Former New Zealand Scott Styris all-rounder has asked for the switch-hit to be entirely banned from the game while countering Ravichandran Ashwin’s recent take on the leg-before law related to the stroke.
Innovation and unorthodoxy have become the flavour of contemporary cricket, not just in limited-overs cricket but also Test matches, with Joe Root having reverse-scooped Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Shardul Thakur in red-ball cricket.
A much-debated stroke has been the switch-hit, which has sparked debate ever since its inception. Recently, India’s premier spinner R Ashwin asked for the leg-before norms to be revised in case the batters miss the ball while attempting the shot and be adjudged out regardless of where the ball pitches.
Former New Zealand all-rounder Styris had quite a different take, asking for the shot to be banned completely.
“I actually think even though we just had some fun with the switch hit, I think the switch hit should be banned completely. Well, I sort of gotta go back half a step here,”
said the 47-year-old, who himself was at the receiving end of the stroke years ago, expertly executed by Kevin Pietersen for it to gain prominence.
“I loved a lot of the points that Ashwin made. I completely disagreed with all his solutions. There are rules for captains and bowlers in terms of where their fieldsmen can be, how many behind point, how many on the leg side, all of these things.”
“So, I don’t think a batsman should be able to change his hands over and I don’t believe he should be able to change his feet. You can play the reverse sweep or the reverse hit if you like but I don’t like this. In terms of the hands, Kevin Pietersen has completely flipped around as a left-hander”.
