Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner is known for his innovative approach to batting; from switch hits to scoops, he can do it all. Today, however, he took innovation to a whole new level with an incredible shot off Kolkata Knight Riders’ Trent Boult. The shot, which resembled a tennis forehand, fetched him a much-needed boundary.
Watch David Warner’s incredible tennis forehand shot here
It was as early as the second over. The runs were not easy to come by and the Knights had gotten off to a decent start. Mind you, this was not a traditional batting-friendly surface on offer at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. It was slightly sluggish which meant that hitting through the line was extremely difficult.
Boult, who was bowling the second over, had by then allowed only two runs off five balls. He had been bowling a tad bit short, which was just about perfect given the conditions, and both Warner and Shikhar Dhawan had been unable to get off the blocks.
With the pressure gradually mounting, Warner knew that a boundary off the final delivery would help a great deal in setting the tone of the innings. As Boult darted in yet another short of a length ball, outside the off stump, Warner stood tall and slammed it straight down the ground.
The delivery had clocked over 140 kmph and had climbed up to a good height. Instead of going for the square cut, Warner decided to switch on his unorthodox mode. He quickly got on top of the ball and played a perfect pull shot past the bowler. It certainly looked like he was playing a tennis shot – a seething forehand winner, to be precise – for a four.
Normally, a batsman would look to place a pull shot towards the leg side, but not Warner. He knew that hitting it straight past the bowler would be the safest option and went ahead with it. And the execution was so perfect that it would put top tennis players in a fix!
This was Warner’s second boundary of the innings. Surprisingly, it also turned out to be his last as he toiled through the rest of his knock, scoring 37 runs off 35 balls before being castled by Piyush Chawla. He did, however, manage to hit two huge sixes, one off Chawla and one off Sunil Narine.
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