During the course of his match winning century (102 N.O) against Sri Lanka in the 3rd test of the Series, VVS Laxman moved from 87 to 91 with a delightful looking stroke off Suraj Randiv through the cover region. Its a given that VVS has supple wrists and his onside flicks are legendary. His flick against leg spinners, especially when they are bowling around the wicket, is a thing of beauty. During the course of his mammoth 281 at Kolkata in 2001, he put on a clinic on how to play Shane Warne, who bowls big ripping leg breaks, by repeatedly flicking him against the spin towards midwicket, working those supple wrists overtime.
A cover drive is defined as “straight-batted shot, played by swinging the bat in a vertical arc through the line of the ball, hitting the ball in front of the batsman along the ground” through the cover position. However, the shot he hit, mentioned above, had all the wrist work that VVS exemplifies in an onside flick aimed towards midwicket region, except this was hit towards cover. He did move his feet, stretched and got to the pitch of the ball, brought down the bat in the vertical arc but the follow through was unlike what you generally see in a cover drive.
What should we call this shot? That is the question. Is it a cover flick? off side flick? Help me figure it out. Here is the video of that shot. Cheers!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXWFkxeIdI]
(Video adapted from Cricket online TV)
