The game of Indian batting maestro - Dissecting it shot by shot

He corroborated the view of Sunil Gavaskar that his reflexes are slowing down. He has openly agreed to it that he does not have plenty of cricket left in him. He has admitted that he is not far away from his retirement.

When interviewed by Arnab Goswami for Times Now, those were some of the shocking confessions made by the Indian batting Maestro, Sachin Tendulkar. In fact, when questioned specifically, he did not mince words before declaring he would not be available for the World Cup in 2015. In short, he has made it evident to all of us that it is not going to take long for him before deciding to hang up his boots finally.

Father time does not look like sparing the God of cricket too. It is pretty obvious that the inevitable old age has succeeded finally in having a stranglehold on him. At this age, the chances of survival on the pitch look very bleak for him. But who knows – he may still persist. considering his love for the game. He might battle hard against his weakened reflexes just to continue doing the thing which he loves dearly. Anything is possible. In any case, even if the little master plays for a couple or more years, it will be not be possible for us to see the same batsman in him whom we used to enjoy watching some time back. The slow reflexes, as the little master himself has admitted, are not going to help his cause either. The variety of shots, which he is known for on both sides of the wickets, will not be seen henceforth.

John Keats once said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” The artistic beauty of Sachin’s batting is also connected to this adage. So, it is better for us to revisit the history, dissecting the game of Sachin shot by shot, which would bring back the memory of the glorious days.

Each of his shots were played with extreme precision and class. While most of them are conventional, some are not. We will have a detailed overview of every one of those shots:

Straight off Drive:

This is one shot which he owns totally. There are of course many cricketers who play this shot, but when he times this shot, it looks absolutely mesmerizing. He exhibits sheer class while playing straight drive, with his foot moving to the pitch of the ball. When you see him driving the balls straight, it looks as if he comes from another planet. So much of wizardry is attached to it, with everything just correct with that shot. This sheer elegance would attract even the advertisers to have their logo affixed on his willow as this is the easiest way of making their brand known world over. Sheer class, more than anything else, he brings to the game when executing the drives straight, isn’t it?

Straight on drive:

This is another variation of straight drive that he plays. Here too, the ball is played damn straight like that in the off drive. But the only difference is – here the ball travel past the right side of the umpire whereas in case of the former – the balls sail past umpire’s left side. Other than this minute difference, the elegance and finesse that the little master displays is the same in case of both straight off and straight on drives.

On side flicks and on drives:

Traditionally, Indian batsmen have been regarded as highly resourceful in driving the balls which are pitched middle and leg and the great Indian maestro is no mug with it either. Such balls are either flicked in the air over square leg or sweetly timed along the ground for boundaries. In playing that shot, he comes only next to another Indian great, Mohammad Azharuddin. Most of the time, Sachin drives it along the ground and very rarely he flicks them in the air. Transferring the weight to his left foot, once he sees something on leg and middle, he beautifully drives it in the leg side, timing it sweetly to the boundary.

Square Cuts:

Many cricket fans of yesteryears often associate the former great G.R.Vishwanath with beautiful square cuts on bouncy pitches. If you take the players of the last two decades, I feel Sachin’s execution of square cut is right up there. Only the batsmen who are very good on their back foot, can play this shot with 100% perfection. Sachin’s square cuts, particularly during his heydays, were a treat to watch. Not only can he cut the ball in the air over backward point but also he can even bisect the fielders to push it to the boundary. He is so good in generating power while playing that shot. When he hits it over the point, the way he stands and executes it on his toes has always looked ravishing.

Cover Drives:

Unlike Dravid or Lara, Sachin does not lean into playing drives through the covers. But due to his brilliant balance and technique, he just plays it from the crease more easily than the others, with his left foot going ahead of the right. Once he drives it through the covers, he is sure to find the gap to the boundary. Also, he is good in driving the ball on the up in which not many Indian batsmen have been good at. Probably Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis are the only cricketers of the modern era who drive the ball in ‘textbook’ style, standing on their toes with right kind of balance.

Pull shot:

Tendulkar is not only good in vertical bat shots but also is equally good in playing it horizontally. No wonder he is able to score runs all over the world. On any bouncy surface, he pulls the ball over mid wicket very craftily. That’s why he is one of those very few Indian batsmen who could play well in conditions such as Perth where the balls used to bounce more all the time. He, however, does not roll the wrists to keep the pulls along the ground. Also, he is not a notable hooker. He usually ducks when he receives the ball close to head height. However, during the initial stage of his career, he had played hooks too, especially on slower wickets in England.

Punch off the back foot:

Sachin is very good in batting back and across and so he has thrived well in Australian conditions. Those balls which come into him round about his rib cage area, receive this treatment of being “punched off the back foot” by the little man. When he is left with not so much of room for playing shots as extravagant as square cut, he gets the ball punched off his back foot by moving back and across. He just times the ball so well that it bisects the gap between cover and extra cover very easily.

All the aforementioned shots are very much conventional, which the great master plays with amazing accuracy and timing, more than the others. There are a few other shots which were mastered by him in due course.

Sweep Shot:

This shot almost all the players have started playing very extensively for the last two decades and it has almost become one of the ‘textbook shots’. But in the eyes of technically sound batsman like Sunil Gavaskar, this shot is not advisable for a proper cricketer to play. Hardly have I seen Gavaskar sweeping the ball because according to him, the batsmen who are equipped with all the shots in the books need not play that type of shot against spinners.

But in the case of Sachin, when situation demands he will go for any shot. So, not only does he play sweeps, he has also played it reverse at times, though very rarely. Another version of sweeping is paddle sweep which is just helping the ball, aimed to his left side, towards the boundary by just having it deflected off the bat. More than normal sweep, Sachin plays it better than anyone against the spinners. Also, he has played slog sweeps many a times in his elite career, the most memorable one being the destruction of Shane Warne in Chennai test in 90s, which brought nightmares to the great leg spin wizard.

Other shots:

Sachin is seen competing now with many youngsters in playing shots such as Upar Cut (Upper Cut), scoops etc. He has left no stone unturned in scoring runs. He even cuts the ball late to the third man boundary and also glances the ball nicely to the fine leg rope. He plays the ball well within the “V”. He is a genius who can just do anything on the cricket field. Perhaps, we may never see a Tendulkar again in cricket in the future. These are the shots which will be sorely missed by us once he calls it a day.

So, like Vivian Richards once said, we will enjoy Sachin as long as we can and pray for another Maestro to originate in the world of cricket.