2nd Rank best 3

[jf1gp_1]

Many of his dismissals in Test cricket so far have been bizarre.

Every now and then in ODIs he has shown he can play a mature inning that is because he has played close to 80 games now. He is still settling in test cricket i dont believe he has played 20 games. I would like to see how he bats in Eng. Though i dont expect much but given the added responsibility of being VC in ODIs we might see some controlled aggression in tests.

[King]

Dhoni : Among the three he is the one that is mentally tough. Although his game is not suited for seaming wicket he makes it up with his excellent keeping. His game will improve and as Pietersen has shown the technique at times is over rated. Who cares whether he has the perfect cover drive or not he keeps the game simple. Among the three Dhoni is my pick for permanent member in both formats of the game. Sehwag : Excellent eye hand and a tough cookie but way too wayward. He will still have some great moments but will more often come under the scanner. Give him about 3-4 years time he will change and will end up being a solid middle order batsman. Yuvraj Singh : The most talented of the three. Has ability to change gears in a jiff and a one off player that can time the ball better than a lot of established batters in the Indian team. I suppose his game is up and down due to lack of opportunities at the right time, his involvement in things outside cricket and the prima donna attitude as reported many times. There is only one person that can wreck or make his career i.e himself. I would like to think he is one for the future.

[Predator_05]

His game will improve and as Pietersen has shown the technique at times is over rated. .

You have got to be kidding. Dhoni isn't half the batsman Pietersen is. ...and Pietersen has very good technique (coupled with a good eye and powerful wrists). Not even comparable to Dhoni.

[Ram]

Yuvraj Singh : T. I would like to think he is one for the future.

That time has come and gone Ravi.. Yuvraj is in his 6th season now.. He has to be the team NOW , not hopefully sometime in the future..

[King]

You have got to be kidding. Dhoni isn't half the batsman Pietersen is. ...and Pietersen has very good technique (coupled with a good eye and powerful wrists). Not even comparable to Dhoni.

Come on Pred, you should know what is the right technique. OK let's hear the technique of Pietersen from ya Pred. Do you know even the stance of Pietersen is not technically right? Do you know he crouches as the bowler runs in? Have you noticed when he hits the ball he is not standing tall but is crouching? Technically the power imparted on the shot when crouching or when your back foot is lifted off the ground or when it's not stable the power on the shot is minimized heavily. I don't know what technique you have seen in Pietersen? You tell me what is right in Pietersen's batting technically and then I'll talk about it. I don't know why are you jumping the gun here. Read my writing again "His game will improve and as Pietersen has shown the technique at times is over rated." What makes you think I was comparing Dhoni with Pietersen?

[Predator_05]

Come on Pred, you should know what is the right technique. OK let's hear the technique of Pietersen from ya Pred. Do you know even the stance of Pietersen is not technically right? Do you know he crouches as the bowler runs in? Have you noticed when he hits the ball he is not standing tall but is crouching? Technically the power imparted on the shot when crouching or when your back foot is lifted off the ground or when it's not stable the power on the shot is minimized heavily. I don't know what technique you have seen in Pietersen? You tell me what is right in Pietersen's batting technically and then I'll talk about it. I don't know why are you jumping the gun here. Read my writing again "His game will improve and as Pietersen has shown the technique at times is over rated." What makes you think I was comparing Dhoni with Pietersen?

I was assuming that you brought up Pietersen to illustrate that a player like Dhoni doesn't need proper technique to score in Test cricket. I responded by saying that Pietersen isn't the best example for the point you are trying to make since his technique is markedly better than Dhoni's. If you feel i misconstrued what you were saying, than you have my apologies. As far as Pietersen's technique goes, i'd say you are getting into specifics here. I don't think there is anything wrong with batting stance - sure, he crouches but then again he is over 6 feet tall. How many tall players bring the bat all the way down ? That doesn't seem to be trouble him though because from what i see, he has very good balance no matter what shot he is playing, tremendous bat-speed and is at ease playing strokes on either side of the wicket. I also reckon he reads the bowler better than most batsmen; often playing the right premeditated shot for the right ball. Dhoni by contrast doesn't look anywhere near as good as Pietersen in his strokeplay.

[Cricketics]

Do you know even the stance of Pietersen is not technically right?

Ravi u can't really say that peterson is not technically right.. the shots he plays might not be in any cricket manual then that doesn't mean he is technically in correct.. the style of chanderpaul's batting is quite different compared to others, that doesn't mean he is technically not right too.. lot of ppl label unique shots as technically wrong just because its not in any english cricket manual???

[King]

I was assuming that you brought up Pietersen to illustrate that a player like Dhoni doesn't need proper technique to score in Test cricket. I responded by saying that Pietersen isn't the best example for the point you are trying to make since his technique is markedly better than Dhoni's. If you feel i misconstrued what you were saying, than you have my apologies. As far as Pietersen's technique goes, i'd say you are getting into specifics here. I don't think there is anything wrong with batting stance - sure, he crouches but then again he is over 6 feet tall. How many tall players bring the bat all the way down ? That doesn't seem to be trouble him though because from what i see, he has very good balance no matter what shot he is playing, tremendous bat-speed and is at ease playing strokes on either side of the wicket. I also reckon he reads the bowler better than most batsmen; often playing the right premeditated shot for the right ball. Dhoni by contrast doesn't look anywhere near as good as Pietersen in his strokeplay.

I am getting into specifics here yes. Firstly for a batter to be technically correct he needs to to be still while the bowler is running in with the ball. You can see Pietersen crouching while the bowler is running in. Whatever you are saying is not technique, that is natural talent. That is good for Sehwag too. Do you reckon Sehwag has good technique too? Tell ya what, I'll upload some videos of Pietersen's stroke play and Dhoni's stroke play for you to compare. Pietersen is obviously the better bat but you will see that either can be used as a picture of technique. This is what I'm trying to say here.

Ravi u can't really say that peterson is not technically right.. the shots he plays might not be in any cricket manual then that doesn't mean he is technically in correct.. the style of chanderpaul's batting is quite different compared to others, that doesn't mean he is technically not right too.. lot of ppl label unique shots as technically wrong just because its not in any english cricket manual???

That is exactly I'm trying to tell you folks. Technique, MCC manual is all over rated. A little bit of technique is of course needed to keep a good ball away but to put away bad balls you don't need the technique of Tendulkar, Dravid or Vaughan. I think you need to read my last couple of posts in this thread.

the shots he plays might not be in any cricket manual then that doesn't mean he is technically in correct..

You define technique to me and then we sure can dwell more into it Cricketics.

[King]

Watch the following video where Pietersen does everything against the prescribed technique. Not much of a balanced stance, head falls over to the off side, he is about few inches outside the stumps in the stance, he's not still when the bowler is running in, he over balances, picks wrong ball to put away through the leg side to a length ball on off side and clearly falls. Also watch how his back foot goes through to the leg side while the front foot to the off side. Ideally when you play on the front foot you want the body momentum to go forward. When you play on the back foot it is vice versa. Now don't shoot me for picking a video that shows his dismissal but I'm just demonstrating the flaws in his technique. I'm not saying he's a bad bad but just saying his technique is no great as you guys claim. I will upload other videos of his with similar technique but hits the ball all over the park. Let's take it one at at time. I'll also upload Dhoni's videos too for you guys to look at.

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[Predator_05]

Watch the following video where Pietersen does everything against the prescribed technique. Not much of a balanced stance' date=' head falls over to the off side, he is about few inches outside the stumps in the stance, he's not still when the bowler is running in, he over balances, picks wrong ball to put away through the leg side to a length ball on off side and clearly falls. Also watch how his back foot goes through to the leg side while the front foot to the off side. Ideally when you play on the front foot you want the body momentum to go forward. When you play on the back foot it is vice versa. [/quote'] I reckon that was a good ball from Nel. Pietersen was looking to play on the legside, but then changed his shot at the last second when the ball straigtened slightly and headed towards middle stump rather than leg-stump. Yeah, he looks a mess in that video but it's not like he always gets out in that fashion.

[King]

"Technically" he was supposed to hit that ball on the off side or could have played straight or could even have pulled the ball over mid wicket but Pietersen's style of play didn't allow that. Whether good ball or not Pietersen's batting has always been like that. I can upload quite a few videos where he has hit a similar ball through mid wicket for four. I'm trying disprove you folks that reckon Pietersen's or Sehwag's technique is just right but not Dhoni's. I will upload in a while some of this good shots played with similar style.

[King]

Check this video out. I have frozen the video right at the time of impact. You can see how far down his hands have gone while the foot stays in line with the off stump. Now where is the technique? His body movements are pretty much similar to the way he played the shot against Nel's bowling. The back foot is off the ground at the time of impact, the foot hasn't really gone all the way, back lift isn't straight either and his stance again is the same as was in the previous video. You have evidence of two clips and now tell me what is great about his technique? I'll tell you what is great about his batting though, he is a very uncomplicated batter. He knows he has a bat and there is a ball to hit. It doesn't matter if his stance isn't perfect or his head has fallen over to the off side at the time of delivery of the ball, he has good eyes and fantastic hands. I can bet my bottom dollar if you emulate that shot the ball won't cross 10 yards but when he does the ball races away to the fence. Technique is good and is great to keep a good ball away but you don't have to be a walking manual to succeed in cricket. The only thing that matters is watching the ball closely, strong mental attitude, backing yourself and making an effort to hit the ball from the middle of the bat. In test cricket it does help to learn to leave a lot of good balls and that comes with the ability to watch the ball closely. A little tweaking here and there technically is required at times when one keeps getting out in similar fashion otherwise there is more to cricket than just having perfect technique.

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[Predator_05]

Lovely cover drive. Nice flow of the bat, perfect timing. He read the ball superbly, and his head was still - eyes on the ball - when he hit it. Dhoni's shots never look that clean.

[King]

Lovely cover drive. Nice flow of the bat' date=' perfect timing. He read the ball superbly, and his head was still - eyes on the ball - when he hit it. Dhoni's shots never look that clean.[/quote'] I don't really know what you are saying there. We all know it's a fantastic shot but where is the technique you mentioned about? You said

You have got to be kidding. Dhoni isn't half the batsman Pietersen is. ...and Pietersen has very good technique (coupled with a good eye and powerful wrists). Not even comparable to Dhoni.

I don't see any great technique in Pietersen :thumbs_down: He is a fantastic natural striker of the ball. Dhoni is pretty much the same, no great technique but is a top class hitter of the ball. I can even point out similarities in Dhoni and Pietersen's hitting ability if you want. Dhoni may not be as able as Pietersen but he sure can hit a ball consistently. Some are more capable than others and let's say Pietersen is more capable. It is not because of great technique Pietersen is scoring all those runs.

[Predator_05]

I don't really know what you are saying there. We all know it's a fantastic shot but where is the technique you mentioned about? You said I don't see any great technique in Pietersen :thumbs_down: He is a fantastic natural striker of the ball. Dhoni is pretty much the same, no great technique but is a top class hitter of the ball. I can even point out similarities in Dhoni and Pietersen's hitting ability if you want. Dhoni may not be as able as Pietersen but he sure can hit a ball consistently. Some are more capable than others and let's say Pietersen is more capable. It is not because of great technique Pietersen is scoring all those runs.

I am not saying that Pietersen is the very epitome of technical correctness. I am just saying that his technique is still quite good and MUCH better than Dhoni's. When i talk about technique, i mean technique with regard to strokeplay. That cover drive was technically correct - observe the timing, the still head, the smooth flow of the bat and the perfect placement. If that isn't technical correctness, i don't know what is. For starters, Dhoni can't even play a cover drive like that. He is far more one dimensional when compared to Pietersen; always looking to play as straight as humanely possible or alternatively, on the leg side. His offside strokeplay is almost non-existent. Dhoni isn't as good as Pietersen because the England batsman is a better rounded, more technically sound cricketer by comparision and possesses a wider array of shots. Pietersen is in a different league - hence why his Test and ODI records are so much better.