360° cricket is the order of the day and if a cricketer does not have shots all around the wicket, he just isn't deemed good enough in the books of modern cricket fans. Cricket started turning freakish long back, with cheeky shots that elude the keeper or that short fine leg becoming common place.
A shrewd look might show up a rather forgotten name and face in cricket – Douglas Marillier. His ramp shot in the 2002 game against India, where he played a match-winning unbeaten 56, became so famous that cheeky shots soon became quite a regular sight at games.
While there are quite a lot of proper shots behind the wicket that fetch you runs, scoring shots behind the wicket have become so common that for someone like AB de Villiers or Jos Buttler, you would not be surprised to see a wagon wheel showing more runs scored behind the wicket than in front.
Such has been the progress cricket has made in terms of near illegal ways to score runs that the most popular format of the game, T20, is an exhibition of these shots. Let us take a walk through some of those unorthodox scoring shots, behind the wicket, ignoring the normal dab to third man or a flick past fine leg.
1. Ramp Shot or Marillier Shot
The Ramp Shot or the Marillier Shot became pretty famous in the early 2000s. In this shot, the bat is used as a ramp to flick the ball past the shoulders of the batsman. Though a risky proposition, the shot usually pays rich dividends when executed perfectly as fielders behind the wicket are not commonly very fine.
Douglas Marillier, the Zimbabwean all-rounder, was a pioneer of this shot and introduced it to devastating effect against India in 2002 where he constantly used the shot against the likes of Zaheer Khan in an unbeaten knock of 56 that won the game for his team.
It was not the first time this man had the guts to play that shot. In a triangular series involving Australia, West Indies and Zimbabwe, Marillier used the shot against McGrath in the final over where 15 was required. The first and the third balls were ramped over his shoulder for boundaries but he failed to deliver the knockout punch and Zimbabwe fell short by 2 runs. But the dare almost paid off and he was set to initiate a revolutionary change in the dynamics of cricket.
Marillier was not the only person to play the ramp shot, though he was the first. Brendon McCullum, Robin Uthappa, and Tillakaratne Dilshan also frequently used the shot to disturb the rhythm of the bowler.
2. Lap Shot
The first name that comes to your mind when thinking about the lap shot has to be AB De Villiers. The maestro has perfected this shot to such a degree that he plays it as easily as a cover drive. His timing, balance and execution of the lap shot is unbelievable and more often than not, he has left the crowd spellbound with his acrobatics.
The lap shot is a near sweep where the batsman goes deep into the crease just as the ball is being released. The ploy gives the batsman additional time to pick the right shot and also to convert a possible yorker into a length ball. If the length is full, he goes for a full stretched powerful sweep. According to South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis, the shot has changed the dynamics of the contest between bat and ball.
“It changes the dynamics of how the guy’s bowling at you and also the field. They will probably bring mid-off up and push fine-leg back which opens up another scoring area. That shot epitomises how batting has moved forward. The lap or ramp shot is fantastic for the game. Cricket has grown as a result,” Kallis said.
The shot is quite risky considering that it is executed off a fast bowler, possibly bowling above the 140kmph mark. To escape unhurt and to execute the shot with perfect timing and balance, the batsman requires to keep his eyes locked on the ball.
Other advocates of the lap shot include Glenn Maxwell and Jos Buttler, who are pretty much devastating packages even without these shots.
3. Upper Cut
The upper cut, an unorthodox shot over the slip cordon for balls bouncing outside off, was perfected and implemented to great effect in the 2003 World Cup by India's devastating opening pair, Sehwag and Tendulkar.
While the shot was played by a few before, it was Tendulkar who first did it with such frequency in an ODI, when he used the shot to counter the bounce of Makhaya Ntini and Nantie Hayward.
It is almost an off-side ramp shot where the pace of the bowler is utilised to hit over the slip cordon. In the 2003 World Cup, Sehwag and Sachin smashed the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis with frequent upper cuts that flew over third man.
Arguably, one among Sachin's best ODI innings was famous for those ravishing upper cuts. The shot is loaded with risk as an upper cut mistimed can land straight down the throat of deep third man.
In his latter years, Sehwag had the habit of playing this shot far too often, including in Test matches, and fields were set to invite him to play this shot, and invoke a mistake. Though the shot is quite common in world cricket now, it's best exponents remain Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
4. Paddle Sweep & Reverse Paddle Sweep
Another invention in the name of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, the paddle sweep was often used by him against the spinners. In the 1998 ODI series against Australia in Sharjah, Tendulkar used the paddle sweep to counter Shane Warne.
With fine leg rarely very fine in those days, the paddle sweep became an easy boundary shot. It is similar to a normal sweep but unlike the orthodox one, does not require much power. It is a deft touch past the keeper using the pace of the spinner.
A cross-batted shot with the face of the bat coming down on top of the ball, its success meant that many more players started using the shot, especially in T20s. Gautam Gambhir was an excellent player of the paddle sweep and to date plays it in the IPL against the slower bowlers.
The reverse paddle sweep is a variation of the paddle sweep – only that this one is hit in the air and over third man. A literal scoop by switching the hold of the hands on the bat, the shot aims to use the bowler's pace to generate power. England no.3, Joe Root played the shot to perfection and fetched a six against South Africa in the World T20 2016.
Another young Indian domestic player, Sarfaraz Khan, is also known to play the shot. The 18-year-old lad played the shot a few times during the IPL in 2016 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Eoin Morgan of England and Colin Munro of New Zealand are other players known to try the shot in International Matches.
5. Dilscoop
The shot was named after recently retired Sri Lankan opener, Tillakaratne Dilshan after he invented the shot before the 2009 World T20. The shot requires the batsman to go down on one knee to a good length ball and 'scoop' the ball over his own bent head and over the head of the wicketkeeper. It is possibly the most dangerous shot in this list because of the danger it poses to the batsman's face if he misses the shot.
The fearless Dilshan started practising the shot in the 2009 IPL against a bowling machine during his time with Delhi Daredevils. Although the shot resembles the ramp shot by Marillier, Dilscoop, when played to perfection goes straight over the keeper's head, rather than through fine leg. Because of its uniqueness, the shot came to be known after its inventor, Dilshan.
Brendon McCullum is another known executioner of the shot having played it often enough to almost rename the shot, McScoop, in New Zealand.
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