The cover-drive and it's complexities
Batsmen always look to get on top of the bowlers, be it in limited overs match or the game’s evergreen longest format. Some shots are played to accelerate the run rate while some are attributed to batsmen experiencing a rush of blood or brain-fade.
The cover drive is a copybook stroke make famous by the greats that have played the game through the ages. It is one of the first stroke taught to kids and professionals love holding the posture for the shutterbugs. That said, the stroke looks good only when executed to attain the desired results. One wrong step or a flawed swing of the bat could be catastrophic.
Here are five lesser known complexities behind cricket’s most beloved stroke.
#1 Detrimental to the quest to come back to form
For a batsman, it takes one match to lose touch and will have to painfully need to hustle through the hard grind to get back into the thick of things.
The cover drive is perilously venomous and shouldn’t be an option for batsmen who are in poor form. Bowlers tend to float the ball in and around the off stump and wait for the batsman to hang the bat out. Nevertheless, it’s the batsman’s patience which is put through a tough examination. It’s also a time when the batsman’s feet aren’t mobile and attempting a cover-drive will dent the mindset of the batsman more often or not.
The cover drive presents itself with technical difficulties and there have been instances when accomplished batsmen have kept the stroke away.
Sachin Tendulkar, in the 2003-04 Test tour to Australia, was going through a lean patch and often perished to deliveries outside the off-stump, edging them to the men standing behind.
In the final test match in Sydney, he cut off his off-side play and ended up with a score of 241. He scored a mere 56 runs through the off-side, displaying the mental toughness of a hallmark batsman.
