The game is not the same. From its introduction to now it has changed in every which way possible. All the formats, be it Test cricket, the ODI’s and the latest, the T20 games have had full share of it no less and continue to brace up with all the new rules and conditions and even the style of play which comes their way.

Watching this World Cup and see some of the daredevil attempts by batsmen to hit a four or a six or to steal a single to add to their total makes you wonder how quickly and skillfully some of today’s batsmen have learnt to improvise and perfect their shots such as reverse sweep, scoop, a paddle shot, and occasionally even a switch hit.

The demand on players to score briskly in limited-overs cricket and set a target made it necessary the need for improvisation and new skills to frustrate the opposition and their set field.

The South African captain A.B. de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Faf du Plessis now seem to be thriving on such improvisation even at times faltering in their attempt to play it with perfection.

The audacity with which the reverse sweep is played makes you jump in disbelief and in awe at the courage and skill that we see now.

De Villiers’ electrifying 162 against the West Indians the other day and Gayle’s record breaking double century against Zimbabwe, the first in the World Cup by any player, makes you think that practice no doubt makes one perfect.

Which now takes me back to where it all started. It was believed that great Hanif Mohammad was the first to play it. But not really true and Hanif confirms it by saying, ‘Mushtaq Mohammad in fact tried it for the first time in a county match in the early sixties and I played in early seventies against Mike Brearley’s U-23 team to Pakistan in a match at Hyderabad; and then in the 1967 Lord’s Test where I scored 187 against England and reversed sweep leg-spinner Robin Hobbs.’

Mushtaq the former captain of Pakistan, who is here these days, confirmed the statement to me a couple days ago as well. ‘I had watched the great Indian batsman Mushtaq Ali in a match in India when he played few shots in a very odd way pushing and shoving the ball in an unorthodox manner and I thought I should try something like that.

‘Playing for Rothman’s XI at Uxbridge against Fred Titmus, the Middlesex off-spinner. I found myself bogged down with fielders around me. Not being able to find gaps I then turned around to play a reverse sweep to hit a four.

‘The bowler turned to the umpire and complained about the shot, saying that I shouldn’t be allowed to do that. I then went to the umpire and said, if a bowler can bowl leg break while bowling off break then why can’t I switch over to play a different shot than usual. The umpire was convinced by what I said and told me to keep going,” disclosed Mushtaq.

The reverse sweep now is a common sight in instant cricket to score runs in every way possible. New laws, restriction of field placing have resulted in such improvisations to make things work for their respective teams.

As I witnessed in the 1987 World Cup final between Australia and England at the Eden Gardens Calcutta (Kolkata) then. In front of a capacity crowd of near a hundred thousand, England chasing 253 for victory with captain Mike Gatting at the crease with Bill Athey with their score 135 for 2 were well on their way for win.

Allan Border, the Australian captain, then put himself to bowl to Gatting. On his first delivery Gatting in a moment of madness decided to reverse sweep to top edge comfortably in the hands of Greg Dyer the keeper.

England slided down then and despite Alan Lamb’s 45 later they fell short by only seven runs to miss their first Cup win. England is still without it.

Javed Miandad got out in Gatting’s fashion in the 1992 World Cup final at the MCG but not before he had made a fifty, taking Pakistan very close to the historic moment.

But a scoop played by Misbah-ul-Haq in the 2007 World Twenty20 final against India with his team on 152 for 9 then and requiring six more runs to win ended disastrously for Pakistan.

The reverse sweep is an unorthodox shot in which the batsman instead of playing the usual sweep changes his stance to turn the other way changing his top hand to bottom and bottom hand to top end of the bat to place the ball down the leg side by swinging the bat in a horizontal arc from off side to leg. Risky, but for its success and failure, it is quite interesting to watch.

Published in Dawn March 10th , 2015

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