#NoMatterWhat - 5 reliable big-hitters in modern-day Cricket

The advent of limited-overs cricket dates back to 1971, but its version that we see now has gone through several changes through the filters of those who pioneered it at various stages.One-day cricket, in its nascent stage was a shortened version of Test cricket. It was like a Test match of three sessions played in two equal phases. Touch-play and timing were the tunes of those days, as some of the most classical batsmen to have graced the 22 yards, namely Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards, Martin Crowe, Ian Chappell, Graham Gooch, Javed Miandad et al played with sublime hands and supple wrists.What we see now are batsmen inherently gifted with some or all of those qualities possessed by the legends of yesteryears, topped with their ability to hit the ball in an area of their liking.Earlier, a delivery on fourth or fifth stump of a right hander would be cut, or at max. cover-driven. Now, the same delivery can be pulled from outside off and deposited into the farthest stand on the leg-side.This paradigm shift in modern day cricket has been colloquially termed as ‘hitting,’ and over the years cricket has been gifted with some of the most terrific hitters of the leather ball.While hitting the ball in the air is easy, hitting it clean requires art. Here, in this piece, we look at five of the most reliable hitters that cricket has had over the years in a chronological manner. 

#1 Adam Gilchrist

Every art needs a pioneer, a revolutionary. Cricket is an amalgamation of arts, and the art of attacking at the top was revolutionized by Adam Gilchrist. Sachin Tendulkar had been doing it before him, but Gilchrist did it with no pressure, no commitments and no intentions to build the team’s innings.

His batting technique was made up of just one sentence - hit the ball. That is evident from the record of the most number of sixes hit in Test cricket, which he currently shares with Brendon McCullum, at 100.

His knock of 149 off 129 with 13 fours and 8 sixes in the World Cup final of 2007 bears testimony to the fearless heart and the risk-free mind that he possessed. Run rates soared as long as Gilchrist was around, and that being at the beginning of an innings was the greatest setback that his opponents had to deal with.