How beautiful is this?

[Zelig]

[vvvslaxman]

:hysterical::hysterical: More like how ugly is this

[Zelig]

On a serious note - Growing up as a kid, Vikram Solanki was one of my fav non-Indian players. I liked his cover drive the most..pure elegance. Shame, he never lived up to the potential he possessed :((

[vvvslaxman]

Standard Rahul Dravid pic

[vvvslaxman]

January 1996!!

[TumTum]

And yes they are the same person.

[Zelig]

One handed reverse sweep :hysterical::hysterical:

[gaurav92]

^Andy Flower ? I thought he was a classical batsman :dontknow:

[vvvslaxman]

^Andy Flower ? I thought he was a classical batsman :dontknow:

He was. But he got near 100% record with his reverse sweeps. Every time he connected with middle of the bat.

[Stuge]

my fav picture of the lot .landscape view with cricket :)

[gaurav92]

He was. But he got near 100% record with his reverse sweeps. Every time he connected with middle of the bat.

Yes he did play some cheeky strokes too and was very good at finding boundaries.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[gaurav92]

Baasu :woot: The Bestest

[CoverDrive]

[ravishingravi]

^You can see it in Gilchrist's face. When on song, VVS is from another plane.

[Blueraphael]

There was this very old cricket photo of a batsman coming forward and the moment captured was just before he had done so. It was in sepia from a side on angle. It was also referred to in that one article on cricinfo about photographing moments in cricket. Can't find it. It was one of the more amazing ones I have seen. Any ideas?

[CoverDrive]

You are talking about Victor Trumper and this famous photo - read about it in an excellent article by Gideon Haigh - http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/433241.html

[Blueraphael]

^^^ its a good photo though not the one I am talking about, at least I think so. I remember the article was something about how modern photographers concentrated on the reaction of the players but not on the action.

[b555]

baasu

[Vijay.Sharma]

Arrite baiz its time to up the ante ...

Any questions about what it means to be the Buddha of Batting are answered there! In RSC (some of you would have read it already) I made this comparative analysis of this deadly still photograph.... I think I tried to capture the essence of the bouddhitva...copy-pasting it for you -

And if you look closely this photo basically tells the whole story of these three batsmen's approach to batting. Allow me... First scan ur eyes thru from the stance of Dravid thru to Viru. Now pls go back to Dravid's stance... Dravid: way too much complication in the mind, which is manifested in his stance seeming a little uncomfortable. It makes you feel this man thinks batting is a "tough" act of concentration. This is accentuated by his slightly more bent back as he is facing the bowler...imagine it like the crouch we take (cats especially) before leaping into the air. So he is crouching a little more almost giving the impression that his mind is expecting the ball to be a tough one to face. Same thing is manifested near his neck...the neck is a lil cocked ahead...a little more alert and giving the impression that he is looking for any little info that he can perceive about the thunder that is going to arrive so he can be prepared better to face it. On the whole makes batting look more complicated than it is. Will read the Buddha after reading Viru....and will mention why (one already 'given' reason is the effect I wanna create of the bouddhitva) Viru: Upright stance i.e. back not bent so much....first impression it gives when compared in relation to Rahul's stance is that Viru is telling the bowler "go ahead and give me what you got". Now look at the upside down 'v' created by his legs in the stance. The right leg (back one seems to be ready to move whereas the left leg (front leg) is upright and firm. This is suggesting to me that he is allowing the object in front of him to come to him and do with it whatever he will only at the very last moment...it manifests in his play as minimum feet movement. Now pls go back to Rahul's stance...notice his back foot is very firmly grounded whereas front leg is almost 'searching' for the best place to be at when the object (ball) arrives. This difference re-emphasizes the fact that Rahul is taking every opportunity to glean whatever he can from the environment and be prepared to tackle the object coming at him (it manifests in his often exaggerated feet movement and loud, firm calls of 'non' or 'wait'). Whereas Viru is epitomizing the laidback attitude almost to an extent that he doesn't think the object can do anything to him at all...basically saying "you come here first and then I'll deal with you". The point is further accentuated by his grip...the upright stance is ensuring he doesnt have to bend his elbows much. Now look at Rahul and notice the almost 90 degree cocking angle formed at his right wrist between the hand and forearm. On the whole Viru makes batting look more simpler than it is. Buddha: Now here is the perfect balance between the two extremes. Lets start with the neck position...Rahul's front cocked neck (the arc of right shoulder, neck, left shoulder is falling towards the front shoulder) is negated by Viru's opposite angle...his back shoulder is bending downwards and front shoulder rising upwards...re-emphasizing that he is waiting for the object to come to him. Now, look at the Buddha's right shoulder-neck-left shoulder....what a fuqqing perfect arc that is! If you look very closely probably there is a small lil rising of the front shoulder a la Viru. But that could be an illusion caused because of his stance...look at his feet...his feet are a lil angular so that angle is making his left portion of the body look higher but if u imagine it in a 3-d perspective you can probably tell that the arc formed by the shoulders and neck are actually a perfect arc. Next his stance....perfect upside down 'v'...it says "I will wait for you to come but at the same time I am prepared to deal with you in whichever way I want to deal with you". In a sense the stance is giving the impression of 'awareness of environment' (which Rahul is seeking more and more whereas Viru is not bothered). So therefore when the object arrives he knows "how" it will arrive because he already understands the effect of the environment on the object whereas Rahul just thinks he needs more info and Viru couldn't care less. His wrists are relaxed...the angle his right wrist makes with the forearm and hand is tending to 180 degrees as compared to the full cocked almost 90 degrees of Rahul and slightly cocked (30 degrees in the opposite direction) of Viru. Although angles are different on the left arm you can notice that Sachin's left hand and forearm seem to be a lot more straighter (look at the wrist) than Rahul and Viru who are again in opposite directions...Rahul's knuckles are slightly cocked inwards whereas Viru's are slightly cocked outwards. Sachin's stance is giving the impression that "I know what I am and I know exactly what my abilities are and limitations are. I am looking forward to see what you have and I'll not feel damned to respect you if I think you deserve it. Neither will I feel damned to deal with you as I please...send you to where I think you may belong: over the ropes, to the ropes, to that gap there, to the WK..." On the whole the Buddha makes batting look more like what it 'is'...an art form. A picture sez a thousand words they say...maybe I just expressed a few hundred of them above....lol! But anyway actually looking at this picture so closely was an enjoyable experience.