4 Batting Drills To Improve YOUR Game Against Pace & Spin | Learn How To Bat In Cricket From A Pro

Summary

Cricket professional Hassan Azad demonstrates essential batting drills in this instructional video. He covers the top hand rule for controlling the bat's back face, emphasizes the importance of turning the whole body and shoulders to direct the ball, and highlights the often-neglected bottom hand drills. Azad also discusses balance, using quick throws to diagnose and improve stability, and introduces the sweep shot technique. He advises practicing from different stances to overcome the fear of getting hit and ensure effective play against spinners.

Takeaways

• 🏏 The 'Top Hand Rule' is crucial for controlling the back face of the bat with your top hand.
• 🎯 Practicing hitting specific areas, like the stumps or midwicket, helps in refining shot accuracy.
• 🧍‍♂️ The drill emphasizes the importance of turning your whole body and shoulders to direct the ball effectively.
• 🤚 Focusing on bottom hand drills is essential for players who are bottom hand dominant, improving overall control.
• 🎳 Using the 'bowling ball' analogy for bottom hand drills helps in extending through the ball with the bottom hand.
• 🔍 The script serves as a diagnostic tool to identify areas needing improvement in batting technique.
• 🧍‍♂️ Maintaining balance is key, and the 'tripod' position is a sign of poor balance after playing a shot.
• 🤸‍♂️ Quick throws are an effective drill to practice and check balance, ensuring stability in batting position.
• 🏓 The sweep shot is a valuable shot against spin, allowing the player to counter the best deliveries from spinners.
• 🙅‍♂️ Overcoming the fear of getting hit on the head is part of mastering the sweep shot, with drills involving tennis balls.
• 🏋️‍♂️ The importance of keeping the head in line with the ball and not dropping weight back when playing the sweep shot.

Q & A

What is the first batting drill discussed by Hassan Azad in the script?

The first batting drill discussed is the 'top hand rule', which focuses on ensuring that the top hand is behind the bat to control the back face.

What is the purpose of the 'top hand rule' drill?

The purpose of the 'top hand rule' drill is to help the batter control the direction of the ball by positioning the top hand correctly and aiming for a specific target.

How does the drill help in diagnosing issues with the batting technique?

The drill helps in diagnosing issues by observing whether the ball goes in the intended direction or not, which can indicate problems with the batter's hand positioning or body rotation.

Why are bottom hand drills important according to the script?

Bottom hand drills are important because they help players who are bottom hand dominant to improve their control over the bat, which is often neglected.

What analogy is used to explain the bottom hand drill?

The analogy used to explain the bottom hand drill is that of bowling a 10-pin bowling ball, where the batter extends through the ball with the bottom hand.

What is the significance of balance in batting as discussed in the script?

Balance is significant in batting because it allows the batter to maintain a stable position after playing a shot, which is crucial for consistent performance.

What is the 'tripod' position mentioned in the script, and why is it undesirable?

The 'tripod' position refers to when the batter's head falls over, and the back foot comes around after playing a shot, creating an unstable stance. It is undesirable because it indicates a lack of balance.

How can quick throws help in practicing balance in batting?

Quick throws help in practicing balance by requiring the batter to be in a stable position to连续 hit consecutive balls without having to reposition themselves.

What is the sweep shot, and why is it an important shot in cricket?

The sweep shot is a cricket shot played to the best ball of the spinner, allowing the batter to hit it for runs or get off strike. It's important because it can make the spinner's life difficult by playing to their best delivery.

How can practicing with tennis balls help overcome the fear of getting hit while playing the sweep shot?

Practicing with tennis balls can help overcome the fear of getting hit by encouraging the batter to get their head in line with the ball and not be afraid of contact, which is a common concern when playing the sweep shot.

What is the key mistake people make while playing the sweep shot, according to Hassan Azad?

The key mistake people make while playing the sweep shot is getting the wrong side of the ball due to fear of getting hit, which leads to poor shot execution.

Outlines

00:00

🏏 Batting Drills with Cricketer Hassan Azad

In this segment, professional cricketer Hassan Azad demonstrates various batting drills. The first drill focuses on the 'top hand rule', ensuring the top hand is behind the bat for control. Azad emphasizes the importance of aiming for specific targets and using the whole body to turn and direct the ball. He also discusses the significance of bottom hand drills, using a bowling analogy to explain how to extend through the ball with the bottom hand. A diagnostic exercise is mentioned to identify balance issues, where the player should remain stable after playing a shot, avoiding the 'tripod' position. Lastly, a drill for balance involves catching quick throws, which helps in maintaining a good batting position.

05:02

🏓️ Mastering the Sweep Shot and Balance Drills

This part of the script delves into the sweep shot, a crucial technique for playing against spin bowlers. The drill starts with a basic stance, focusing on presenting the full face of the bat and using fast hands to hit the ball. The coach, Neil, demonstrates how to maintain balance by catching balls thrown in quick succession. If balance is off, it affects the ability to consistently hit the ball well. The segment also covers advanced stages of the sweep shot drill, starting from a wide base and dropping to one knee without pulling the head back, which is a common mistake. The key is to keep the head steady and eyes on the ball.

10:02

🤺 Overcoming Fear and Effective Sweep Shot Execution

The final paragraph discusses overcoming the fear of being hit while playing the sweep shot, a common concern due to the nature of the shot. A drill using tennis balls is suggested to help players get used to the feeling of the ball coming towards their head, encouraging them to position their head correctly and not be afraid of getting hit. The importance of risking getting hit on the head when playing the sweep shot is acknowledged, and the paragraph concludes with a motivational note that with good technique, the risk can be minimized.

Keywords

💡Top Hand Rule

The 'Top Hand Rule' refers to the technique in cricket where the top hand (the hand that is not at the bottom of the bat) is used to control the back face of the bat. This technique is crucial for directing the ball to desired areas. In the video, Hassan Azad emphasizes the importance of the top hand in controlling the bat's movement, especially when aiming for specific targets like hitting the stumps or midwicket.

💡Balance

Balance in cricket is essential for maintaining stability after playing a shot. It ensures that the player remains in control and ready for the next ball. Hassan Azad discusses the 'tripod' position, which is an undesirable state of balance where the player's back foot comes around after playing a shot, indicating a lack of balance. The video suggests drills to improve balance, such as catching consecutively thrown balls, which require the player to maintain a stable position.

💡Bottom Hand Drills

These drills focus on the role of the bottom hand (the hand at the bottom of the bat) in controlling the bat. The video uses the analogy of a bowling ball to explain how the bottom hand should extend through the ball, similar to the motion in ten-pin bowling. This is particularly important for players who are 'wooden hand dominant,' meaning they rely more on the bottom hand to control the bat.

💡Sweep Shot

The 'Sweep Shot' is a cricket stroke played to spin bowlers, especially useful against balls that are just dragging the batsman forward. It's a shot that allows the batsman to play the spinner's best ball for runs. The video script describes a drill to practice this shot, starting from a crouched position to ensure the batsman's head and front knee are in the correct position to make contact with the ball.

💡Diagnosing Technique

The video script mentions using certain drills as diagnostic tools to identify areas of a player's technique that need improvement. For example, if a player is struggling to hit the ball to the off side after practicing top hand rules and bottom hand drills, it indicates a problem area that can be targeted for further practice.

💡Final Position

The 'final position' in cricket refers to the stance a batsman ends up in after playing a shot. A good final position is stable and balanced, as described by Hassan Azad, where if someone were to push the batsman, they shouldn't fall over. This is an indicator of good technique and balance, which are critical for consistent performance in the game.

💡Tripod Position

The 'tripod position' is a term used in the video to describe an incorrect balance where the batsman's back foot comes around after playing a shot, creating an unstable tripod-like stance with the butt, back foot, and the other foot. This position is undesirable as it indicates a lack of balance and control over the shot.

💡Quick Throws

Quick throws are a type of drill mentioned in the video to practice and check a player's balance. The drill involves having someone throw balls quickly and consecutively at the player, who must be balanced enough to hit each ball without having to reposition themselves significantly.

💡Extension

In the context of the video, 'extension' refers to the full reach of the batsman's arms and body as they swing the bat. It's an important aspect of the sweep shot, where the batsman needs to extend fully to make contact with the ball and generate power. The video emphasizes the importance of not letting the head drop back when extending, to maintain proper line and contact.

💡Fear of Being Hit

Overcoming the fear of being hit is a psychological aspect discussed in the video, particularly in relation to playing the sweep shot. The video suggests using tennis balls and intentionally trying to hit them with the head to get comfortable with the movement and reduce the fear of being struck by the ball.

Highlights

Top hand rule for controlling the bat's back face

Ball placement for targeting specific areas on the field

Importance of turning the whole body and shoulders in batting

Bottom hand drills for wooden hand dominant players

Using a bowling ball analogy for bottom hand extension

Diagnosing batting issues through top and bottom hand drills

Maintaining balance with the 'tripod' position

Quick throws for practicing balance and stability

The sweep shot as a crucial technique against spinners

Practicing the sweep shot from a ready position

Importance of presenting the full face of the bat in the sweep shot

Progressing the sweep shot drill from a wide base

Keeping the head forward while dropping to knees in the sweep shot

Playing the sweep shot from a standing position

Overcoming the fear of being hit in the head during the sweep shot

Using tennis balls to practice head positioning in the sweep shot

Transcripts

coming up batting drills by professional

cricketer Hassan Azad let's go

[Music]

the first one is your top hand rule so

making sure that your

hand is

behind the bat and if you can zoom in

there you want your

you want to be able to control the back

face with your top hand

um nice and simple

uh have you

um ball out in front of you bad girl

behind

um and then you

pick out an area of where you want a

ball to go for now I'm going to say I'm

gonna try and hit the stumps

or Miron

if it goes slightly other way I'm not

too worried but say I'm trying to hit

the stumps and it goes to midwicket then

I know I'm in trouble

let's see how this goes I haven't done

these in a long time

trying to get a little bit tougher

trying to hit Extra cover

foreign

[Music]

the key thing with this drill as you

would have seen it makes you really turn

your whole body and turn your shoulders

so you know for example I want to hit

Extra cover I can't just do it from here

because

you know I can't really do that my hands

won't work that way my hands are strong

and I'll see after any whole body

and you end up pointing your shoulders

and your forearms in the direction that

you want your ball to go something that

sometimes gets neglected though are

bottom handles

and like we said before if you are

wooden hand dominant player uh you can

do all the top handles you like but when

you hold your bat if your bottom hand is

actually the one that's controlling it

then you you'll end up not really

improving very much so if you are a

watermelon player or anyone in general

bottom hand drills are really good

because they make you do the same thing

with your bottom hand

um so with these bottom hand drills we

use the analogy of a bowling ball so

imagine you're going 10 Pin bowling you

have your batter behind you and you want

to extend through the ball with your

bottom hand

like you would when you're bowling

so I'm going to try and hit me off again

this is a little harder with bottom hand

drills but let's see how this goes

if you

have been trying to hit me off

and the ball is going to move on and you

do your top hand rules and they're fine

you're having bully you wanted to and

you do your Broadband drills and you end

up hitting the balls from your drawing

and trying to hit me off then you know

that that's where the problem is uh so

it's kind of a nice little diagnostic

exercise

um so same as with the Top Hand rolls

you go around the clock I'd say

excavate

off

and you do the same through Miron

and we'll break it a little Top Hand

I'm gonna try and hit on

it on

so uh if if you're balanced

um when you've played your shot you

should be in a stable position uh

sometimes what happens is I think you

will recognize this um my coach used to

call it out every time I did it he used

to call it the tripod

so if you know balanced say your head is

falling over then you play your shot and

that back foot comes around so that

you've essentially got your butt your

foot and your other foot and that's

called the tripod and that's the

position that you really don't want to

get into

ideally when you've played your shot in

your final position you should be so

stable that if someone was to push you

you should be they shouldn't be able to

push you over so um

if I get Neil to give me a hand

um if save your balance

then you know

it should be in a good position whereas

if I'm here

to give me another push

that back foot comes around and that's

not really what you want to want to see

happen

a good drill to check for balance is

having some quick throws so this is

something that I like to do

um

uh before every every game so on game

days

um the first thing I start with is I get

someone to take a bunch of balls come

really close to me go from round record

but wider decrease

come really close and try and hit me on

the pad consecutively

so throwing balls in quick succession

and the idea is that if I'm not balanced

then I won't be able to I'll play the

first one okay and then after that you

get uh it gets more and more difficult

but if I'm balanced and I'm in a good

position then I can go one after the

other because I don't have to move

um so I'll get Neil to demonstrate

lovely

foreign

the first thing you would have noticed

as soon as my balance was off I had to

take a little step to rebalance and as

soon as I did that the next one that I

hit went off somewhere where I didn't

want it to go and I didn't find the

middle of the bat and then that throws

your whole whole thing off so that's a

good way to tell whether you're doing

the drill right or not when I was

balanced I was there and I was ready for

the next ball straight away

and that's a good way to sort of

not just check for balance but to

practice being balanced as well so the

sweep shot is a wonderful shot to have

in your Armory because it's the shorter

you play to the Spinners best ball it's

a short play to the one that's just

dragging you forward uh so landed the

spinner actually wants to ball so if you

can hit the Spinner's best ball for four

or use it to get off strike or whatever

you want to do it can make it spin his

life very difficult

the way to practice the super short from

the basics up is to uh it's a super

simple drill essentially you start in

your ready position

um

uh like we said before uh you want to be

in a position where

your front knee is able to go over your

foot

um

so that your foot doesn't actually get

in the way of your bat

and then you want to be able to get your

head nice and forward get some extension

but really it's about presenting the

full face of the bat and uh getting fast

hands through the ball

to be able to put bass on it

and that's really what it is

um so I'll get Neil to throw me some

balls it's going to be rapid fire

relatively slow but uh in quick

succession we're just going to try and

hit volume of balls

there you go that's why

so

once you've done that a few times and

you're comfortable that you're hitting

the ball where you want to

from down there you can take us take it

a step further

and uh

actually

start

from a wide base so

and then

you're dropping your knees

going down and then sucking at the ball

really important but when you drop your

knees

it doesn't take your head back with it

like this

you want to still be able to go add the

ball and go to where's the ball rather

than dropping your weight rather than

dropping your weight back

oh

foreign

and then finally

we can play it from standing so any

stance

God made the ball

key points with this one

I think what I've seen from

over there is playing and coaching it

the biggest mistake that people tend to

make is because they don't want to get

hit on the head

they get the wrong side of the ball

so if the wall is on this line they end

up trying to go that side of it and

trying to catch up

uh so one drill that I've used before

with the kids and under 15s is which I

think is really suitable and really

helpful for anyone

is to try and get over the fear of being

hit so you take a bunch of tennis balls

and really you put your butt aside you

put your hand on you try and hit the

ball with your head and actually

actually try and hit it and that gets

you really good at getting your head in

position and getting your head in line

and being not being afraid of getting

hit in the head ultimately sweep shot

we're playing The Sweep shot there's a

good chance you might get hit on the

head but that's the risk you're taking

uh and if you play it well then you

won't

[Music]