5 aggressive openers with great hand-eye coordination

Cricket is game of physics. Abiding by the laws of physics while batting, bowling, or fielding makes the game a little simpler for the player. The first thing that a batting coach teaches his/her students is to move their feet in the direction of the ball.

Moving your front foot and back foot correctly and playing it close to the body ensures proper balance and better timing while hitting any shot.

Legendary batsmen like Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, and Brian Lara are perfect examples of textbook style batting technique. Their batting feels like poetry in motion - graceful and flowing unimpeded. Their batting style is meticulously built in order to be aligned with the conventions of batting. But there are a few batsmen who do not necessarily follow these conventions.

Moving feet towards the ball seems pretty old school to these individuals. Such players heavily rely on flawless hand-eye coordination and defy the laws of physics. Although purists do criticize such batting style, what matters is the results that they produce, scores that they get, and the dose of pure entertainment that they provide to the cricket fans by just standing and delivering.

Let us have a look at 5 such batting maestros who did not possess great technique but were extremely effective.

#5 Brendon McCullum - New Zealand

A pocket-sized powerhouse, Brendon McCullum, has played many fiery knocks for New Zeland over the years. A short but intimidating batsman - McCullum has a freewheeling batting style. He enjoys taking a stroll down the pitch and hitting it straight down the ground. He is also an outstanding puller of the ball and hits the shot ferociously hard.

He doesn't possess a great batting technique but those scoop shots that he plays to perfection is a testimony to the fact that he has great reflexes and exemplary hand-eye coordination.

Brendon McCullum has great reflexes

Having built his game on lightning fast and bouncy bowler friendly tracks in New Zealand, McCullum can wreck havoc in opposition bowling on flat batting friendly wickets.

McCullum has scored over 6000 runs in Tests and ODIs which includes a triple ton in Tests. Apart from being an outstanding batsman, he is also a great leader, skilful wicketkeeper, and an extremely agile fielder as well.

#4 Adam Gilchrist - Australia

Adam Gilchrist was unarguably the best Australian wicket-keeper batsman. The Australian opening duo of Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden coming to bat in limited overs cricket was capable of sending shivers down the spine of opposition bowlers. Gilchrist's mesmerizing stroke play always helped Australia get off to a flier.

He played ravishing cover drives, square cuts, and pull shots without moving his feet. A gifted hand-eye coordination combined with aggressive intent helped him score brisk runs on fast and bouncy Australian tracks without any difficulty.

Adam Gilchrist was Australia's best wicket-keeper batsman

Wicket-keeping used to be a specialized role and keepers emphasized just on keeping wickets but Adam Gilchrist's batting brought about a big revolution in terms of how a keeper's role is defined.

In Test cricket, he played in the lower middle order and propelled the Australian total with his hard-hitting. Having amassed 5570 runs in Tests and a massive 9619 runs in ODIs in his cricket career, Gilly's contribution to Australian cricket is huge.

#3 Chris Gayle - West Indies

Universe boss Christopher Henry Gayle is one of the biggest hitters of the cricket ball in the world. Keeping a poker face and chewing a gum all the time while he is batting, Gayle can hit monstrous sixes with metronomic consistency.

Neither does he believe in running quick singles or doubles nor does he believe in moving his feet while batting. Raw power is the key ingredient to all the sumptuous Chris Gayle knocks. He has great eyes and an even greater reach with his long hands.

Chris Gayle just stands and delivers

Gayle absolutely loves the T20 format and has a host of records to his name. Fastest IPL century in 30 deliveries, most number of sixes in IPL - an unbelievable 292 sixes in 111 innings, 21 T20 centuries, maximum sixes in T20 international cricket - 106 sixes in 52 innings - the big man has ruled this format. That sensational knock of 175* off just 66 deliveries still reverberates in the minds of RCB fans.

He has a triple ton in Tests, a double ton in ODIs, and a couple of centuries in T20Is which a rare feat.

#2 Sanath Jayasuriya - Sri Lanka

Like a 'Tollywood' superstar in India, Sanath Jayasuriya was always in action either with the bat or with the ball during his illustrious career. Along with other greats of Sri Lanka, he brought about a transformation in Sri Lankan cricket and the way other cricketing nations perceived it.

Starting off as a left-arm bowler who can give it a whack with the bat, Jayasuriya pounced on any opportunity to prove his batting skills. The historic 1996 World Cup was the turning for Jayasuriya when he opened the innings and took full advantage of the 15-over field restrictions with his unconventional but destructive batting.

Sanath Jayasuriya took full advantage of the field restrictions

His astounding strike rate of 91.22 and a mind-boggling 13430 runs in ODI cricket meant that bowlers had a tough time bowling at him. He scored the fastest ODI hundred off 48 balls which was subsequently broken by Shahid Afridi in the same year. He also scored the fastest ODI 50 off just 17 balls.

The legendary Sri Lankan batsman with his impeccable hand-eye coordination entertained the cricket fans for almost two decades. He was a complete all-rounder with 323 ODI wickets to his name at an economy rate of just 4.79. With 6973 runs and 97 wickets, his Test stats are also impressive.

#1 Virender Sehwag - India

The Nawab of Najafgarh, Virender Sehwag, used his bat like a sword, thrashing every single bowler right from ball one. He did not waste time settling down. He came all set to remarkably hit the very first ball for a four or a six.

In fact, in the 2011 World Cup, Sehwag had hit the first ball for a boundary in 5 out of the 8 matches that he played. His electrifying batting combined with the care-free approach is what made viewers glued to their seats while he was batting.

Virender Sehwag was one of the most entertaining batsmen

Sehwag hardly bothered about the pace and bounce in the pitch as he was blessed with eagle-like sharp vision and great hands. An untroubled and easy-going Sehwag also sang and whistled while he was batting.

Two triple tons in Test cricket, a double century in ODIs, and over 8000 runs in both ODI and Test formats proves that Sehwag did produce results with this technique of his.