These are purely power hitter batters. Also, there are other few who are definite power hitters but along with that, they can negotiate a versatile innings, like Glenn Maxwell, Glenn Phillips or Jos Buttler.
Power hitting is an art, it is most perfected in modern arena because T20 cricket has a huge demand of these batters. Matchless when it comes to finishing off the games, they can’t be consistent with good average but they are custom made match winners.
Let’s take a look at what makes a batter power hitter?
What Makes A Batter Power Hitter?
The most distinct quality of a power hitter is his stance which is quite firm and rooted. The firm stane provides the solid base, that is where half of power of a power hitter comes from. As long as his stance is firm, the swing of his bat will be clean and more forceful.
As one can see in the case of Andre Russell or even Glenn Maxwell, when they really use their power at fullest, their base is quite solid and mostly the shots are cross batted, allowing the a batter to have a full swing in the line of ball.
Besides the firm stane, comes the use of crease. Because a power hitter can’t move much around crease, his position at the crease core of his shot making. Mostly power hitters tend to stay inside the because that allows them to have a bigger trajectory for their shots.
Also, bowlers tend to go for a full length yorker deliveries against power hitters and the margin of error is zero in that case. A missed yorker is a favourite delivery of a power hitter, because it either gets dished up in slot or becomes a full toss.
What Are Favourite Areas To Hit For A Power Hitter?
As a power hitter, the options are quite limited because they can’t be cheeky with their shot selection. A clear mindset is mandatory for a clean ball striking and that’s how a power hitter goes about his business.
The hitting areas majorly depend on the lines that bowler chooses to bowl with. But deep point, long on, long off, deep mid wicket, cow corner and deep square leg are always in accessible sight for a power hitter.
Anything around wide line is slashed and swatted through point and third man. Anything full around off stump is tonked over long on to long off region. When the bowler choses to bring only the leg side in the game with four fielders on boundary, it always a 50-50 game.
Anything coming from short of a length will be clobbered through deep square leg to cow corner region. The power plays a big role while playing short delivereries because sometimes it can get flat. The slower deliveries are mostly pumped over mid wicket or long on region.
The focus point for a power hitter is keep his head still, the more still the batter the more power he can generate behind his shots.
What Is The Grip Of A Power Hitter?
Nothing so important as the grip because the free swing, the speed of arm and most importantly the the use of the bottom hand, all depends on the position of your hand. The ideal grip of a power hitter is to clutch the bottom part of handle firmly to eliminate any kind of vibration when the bat swings.
So with the bottom hand, the lower part of the handle in clutched to gain the full advantage of generated power. The unorthodox power hitter will have some space between his hands on bat’s handle.
For an orthodox power hitter, someone like Shahid Afridi, it all about straight bat and close clutch, aiming more towards the straighter side of the ground.
Also, the batting grip depends on how comfortable a batter feels while going through his shot. For example: Faf Du Plessis has an awkward grip yet because of his firm stance and straight bat, gets a lot of power behind his shots.
On the other hand, Glenn Maxwell, despite having a close clutch, can easily go for straight shots with full power and he can do all this with cross batted shots. Those are naturally accustomed players who can hit the ball long and hard.
There are those who developing their game into pure power hitter position, go with a special cutsom that suits their entire work. For someone like Shivam Dube who is unbelievably strong power hitter, prefers a firm stance and full swing of the bat.
All this is not gonna work unless the most basic instinct has perfected which is too see the ball and hit the ball. As simple as that, hitting the ball on its merit is still best way to go about your business when it comes to power hitting.