Technique is something which is talked about a lot in international cricket and many people are of the opinion that if you don’t have a proper technique, you can’t survive in international cricket, but certain cricketers have proved over the years that even if you have an unorthodox technique, you can still achieve a lot of success at the international level.
Here are 5 cricketers who proved that you don’t always need a proper technique to be successful –
#1 Steve Smith:
When we talk about unorthodox technique, who better to start with than Steve Smith?
Smith is the best Test batsman in the world at the moment and has held the no. 1 position for a decent chunk of his Test career, but as a purist of the game, if you analyze Smith’s technique, you will have a hard time believing that he has scored so many Test hundreds. But, he still somehow scores and one of the main reasons behind it is his focus.
#2 MS Dhoni:
Dhoni’s technique is also not something that you will teach a young kid in a cricket academy. Generally you want a kid to get his body weight forward while playing with the vertical bat, but Dhoni even when he tries to play with the vertical bat, he doesn’t get forward.
Dhoni’s body weight is back most of the time and he just uses his hands to play the vertical bat shots and he manages to still generate a lot of power into his shots because he is so strong. But, it’s definitely not a textbook technique.
#3 Peter Handscomb:
When you see Peter Handscomb bat, you will probably believe that he can’t play any front foot shots because he is so far back in his crease all the time, but he somehow manages to get the ball away even when it’s pitched up.
Now regarding Handscomb, you can say that he has not played as many innings of significance as Steve Smith and Dhoni, but he has played some crucial knocks for Australia in the last few years.
#4 George Bailey:
George Bailey might not have been able to do that much for Australia in Test match cricket, but he was an incredibly fluent run-scorer in white ball cricket between ODI World Cup 2011 and ODI World Cup 2015. He also captained the Australian ODI team in quite a few games.
Bailey also had an unorthodox technique and that only got exaggerated as he progressed in his career. It got so exaggerated towards the end of his career that Shane Warne called his technique “ridiculous”.
#5 Graeme Smith:
The former South African captain, who is the only captain in the history of the game to captain in more than 100 Test matches, was also not the most technically correct batsman. However, he still scored heaps of runs for South Africa, opening the batting in the toughest of conditions.
Smith scored two double hundreds in England and a number of hundreds in South Africa on seaming pitches.
