Rank current indian players against short balls

[Serani]

Collingwood brutal against short ball. What you smoking?? McCullum brutal???? He just takes the short ball on like an idiot and gets out to it as many times as he nails it. Mcullum needs to learn to duck! Hughes of aus can't play short ball to save his life and opens for Aus. No thats a worry!!! Sorry still laughing that Collingwood is brutal against short ball:hysterical:

In fairness to Collingwood although I hate him anything short has never worried him, and especially recently he seems to be hitting most for 6.

[King Tendulkar]

Dravid is unbeliavable against short ball In fact instead of ridiculous sterotypes like this thread. I say we have the best players of short balls in the world in Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxy, Gambhir and Sehwag. Its official India has the best players of short ball in the world

[King Tendulkar]

In fairness to Collingwood although I hate him anything short has never worried him' date=' and especially recently he seems to be hitting most for 6.[/quote'] O come on . Colly is solid against short stuff. But Brutal??? No chance. Viv Richards is brutal and Hayden is brutal against short stuff. But Colly:hysterical:

[Serani]

I dont really know who could be described as brutal against the short ball these days, the best player of the short ball id say is Alastair Cook, he never hits sixes in a brutal manner though. Maybe Chris Gayle.

[King Tendulkar]

Sehwag is brutal against short ball. Does not do it in orthodox pull and hook manner but the uppercut and slash over point. vvslaxman wont like it cos he does not step inside line and hook like wisden tells it how it should be done, but he has his way which devestates pacers! Sehwag is brutal against short ball!

[Serani]

Being brutal is just a state of mind, I dont think bowlers will mind seeing top edges going for 6 because there is every chance Sehwag will get caught at third man. I wouldnt say Sehwag is comfortable against the short ball.

[King Tendulkar]

Being brutal is just a state of mind' date=' [b']I dont think bowlers will mind seeing top edges going for 6 because there is every chance Sehwag will get caught at third man. I wouldnt say Sehwag is comfortable against the short ball.

Have you watched Sehwag bat? Top edges going for 6??? He is smashing them for 6! Bowlers won't mind!!!! They are terrified at the sight of Sehwag, they bang it in and he steps outside the line and smokes it over the ropes! If you look up brutal in the dictionary they simply show a picture of Sehwag!!

[Serani]

If the short ball is aimed at Sehwag he is poor. Example: Kbd2MpNcvms

[King Tendulkar]

I am sure I could get a youtube of Viv and Lara getting out to short stuff. Does that prove they can't play short ball? Sehwags record on all tracks, against all bowlers indicates no wekaness. And closer inspection shows his brutality is unprecedented in test cricket

[vvvslaxman]

Yes Viru is not overly dominant against bouncer balls when you compare to hsi dominance against length balls and short and wide balls and pitched up balls. It is understandable as his lack of feet movement does not allow him into good positions. But recently he has improved himself to pick the right ball to go after. Also sometimes he just takes it on the body or helmet without ducking all the way. He has found his own method to survive against short balls. When the ball in his zone he doesn't miss out on punishing them also.

[saneindian]

There aren't too many batsmen going around who are comfortable with the pull/hook shot. There are spme who may score some runs off it, but then they also look awkward when playing such shots and it also ;leads to their downfall. We have won series in shorter versions of cricket in Eng, WI, Aus, NZ and SA. Would not have been possible if we were horrible against the short ball. IIRC, it was only during the last t20 WC, when we were caught napping , otherwise we have successfully negotiated the "chin music" from the Steyns, Morkels, Jhonsons and Lees of the worl in the last 4-5 years.

[Sid]

kohli and dhoni are best players of short bowling in indian team,others like yuvi and dk are also ok against short bowling,viru doesnt hook or pull much but doesnt look out of place against short bowling its just his style of batting which makes bowlers ball to his strength but yusuf,raina,rohit are just crap against short bowling

[Serani]

Yusuf is embarrasing against the short ball, much worse than the rest.

[vvvslaxman]

There aren't too many batsmen going around who are comfortable with the pull/hook shot. There are spme who may score some runs off it, but then they also look awkward when playing such shots and it also ;leads to their downfall. We have won series in shorter versions of cricket in Eng, WI, Aus, NZ and SA. Would not have been possible if we were horrible against the short ball. IIRC, it was only during the last t20 WC, when we were caught napping , otherwise we have successfully negotiated the "chin music" from the Steyns, Morkels, Jhonsons and Lees of the worl in the last 4-5 years.

Okay.. "negotiate" means you can interpret in many ways. Leaving the ball is also negotiating. Taking on the body is also negotiating. In a T20 scenario that is not going to help isn't it? Why do you think only subcontinent players are targeted with bouncers . They don't even target NZ and WI with short balls. Basically we are used to playing on slow low pitches where ball hardly comes above waist height.

[virufan]

In fairness to Collingwood although I hate him anything short has never worried him' date=' and especially recently he seems to be hitting most for 6.[/quote'] What has Collingwood done to hate him?! He is such a good alrounder!

[Temujin Khaghan]

i think playing the short ball on the legside has to be in four grades... grade1 - no proper technique against the short ball to start with. eg. raina, yusuf pathan grade2 - the batsman knows how to handle the short ball but he has speed and reflex limitations. eg- yuvraj, sehwag, rohit, uthappa, kohli @75-85mph - the batsman will comfortably pull the ball @85-90mph - can tuck it and evade it by taking evasive action or ducking @90mph+ - cannot handle this pace. his limitations are there for everyone to see. grade3 - will pull a bouncer on lightning fast tracks and on sticky wickets. dormant ones - they have the talent but dont do it all the time - sachin, vvs, msd active ones - they do it all the time out of necessity(down under) and habit - ponting, steve waugh, lara grade4 - the hook shot - only the legends like gavaskar, bradman, (even punter and sach on a few occasions) etc...

[vvvslaxman]

Greg Chappell, Ian Botham, Richards, Mohinder are some of the great hook shot players. Hook shot these days totally abandoned coz of the two fielders. Just get rid of the long leg and deep square leg. You will see more players attempting. I mean those who are capable of playing.

[Temujin Khaghan]

Greg Chappell' date=' Ian Botham, Richards, Mohinder are some of the great hook shot players. Hook shot these days totally abandoned coz of the two fielders. Just get rid of the long leg and deep square leg. You will see more players attempting. I mean those who are capable of playing.[/quote'] agreed... what about the body risk? you need to get behind the ball and still connect it to go over the ropes or in between the fielders. there is no keeping down that one. the risk is getting caught right in the middle of the trajectory of the bouncer and taking a body blow. i feel it takes an expert to handle the hook with precision. the fact that gavaskar used to do it against the windies and oz bowlers with a lot of precision and a lot less protection is really amazing.

[thevortex]

i think playing the short ball on the legside has to be in four grades... grade1 - no proper technique against the short ball to start with. eg. raina, yusuf pathan grade2 - the batsman knows how to handle the short ball but he has speed and reflex limitations. eg- yuvraj, sehwag, rohit, uthappa, kohli @75-85mph - the batsman will comfortably pull the ball @85-90mph - can tuck it and evade it by taking evasive action or ducking @90mph+ - cannot handle this pace. his limitations are there for everyone to see. grade3 - will pull a bouncer on lightning fast tracks and on sticky wickets. dormant ones - they have the talent but dont do it all the time - sachin, vvs, msd active ones - they do it all the time out of necessity(down under) and habit - ponting, steve waugh, lara grade4 - the hook shot - only the legends like gavaskar, bradman, (even punter and sach on a few occasions) etc...

Temujin Khagan (thats a hard name to type:)) - it is not true that only legends such as Gavaskar, Bradman etc can play the hook with panache and authority. Anybody having watched players such as Roy Fredericks, Greenidge, Srikkanth will tell you that these are players of the highest quality when it came to hooking. But they were not really legends. In the end it is all horses for courses. The greatest players always had a greater array of strokes. They did not necessarily have to be the best in a particular stroke. For example, I have yet to see somebody square cut with the ferocity and control of a Robin Smith or an Allan Lamb. But then those two did not play too many other shots with the same authority.

[bunny]

Anyone who thinks that GG is a good puller is kidding himself. At least Sehwag ducks well, GG has some real problems against short pitched stuff. Anyway, only Dhoni, and to an extent Karthik and Kohli should be in this list. Yuvraj used to be good, but seems unsure nowadays.