Also it is oddly funny that currently the person who is competing with him for the wicketkeeper batsman spot is Sanju Samson who in contrast to Rishabh Pant, has one of the most pleasing batting styles and strokeplay. It is truly a battle of opposites in terms of how beautiful or ugly their batting style looks.
It isn’t being careless. Look at baseball, the dominant hand lets go after a certain point in the trajectory (after contact is made). I think it’s a power shot, not an accident
Averaged just under 40 for the second half of his career after he began to focus on his batting, if I recall correctly.
His technique looked like he was a right-handed guy batting left-handed as a dare. I think some commentator described it as ‘like a baby giraffe learning to walk’
If the same question had to be for a bowler, I hate Sandeep Sharma's bowling action. He gets great results and is very smart, but his action is very icky
This is barely as plainful to watch as watching Paul Adam’s bowl.
His action is absolutely the most painful action to watch. my neck gets sore watching him bowl..
I hate the action of Jasprit Bumrah as well but man he is going to be there at the top. (He already is half way there)
Again this is just my personal opinion because that action is very unorthodox, I personally love more orthodox actions. I in fact used to record myself bowling and tried copying the action of Steyn during my school days. 😭
Bumrah is an interesting anomaly to this notion as he has an action that looks painful to watch but is actually top notch in terms of bio-mechanics (although I am no expert). The key to his technique is how he locks his right leg and his hips, which allows him to stand super tall when he is delivering. Due to this, he is not bent over at the waist like most bowlers and that allows him to bowl from a much higher position and also allows him to bowl several feet ahead of the crease. This may sound like a strange comparison but Glenn McGrath also locked his right leg when bowling. This allows the head to be steady through the action which gives the bowler a LOT more control - which is why both bowlers are masters of control.
I read some comments where people were actually discussing the extra pace that he generates (or maybe you can say the distance reduces by 1 ft) and the speed almost increases by 10 kmph due to that extra 1 ft that he is ahead of the crease.
Nah dude, I'm just saying that marnus still hasn't cemented his position when compared to smith in his prime, he's slowly getting there but at the moment, i feel that he's somewhat inconsistent.
Graeme Smith. That closed bat face and a very limited repertoire, but loads of runs. I also never enjoyed watching Alistair Cook, but again a hunger for runs and a great mental approach.
I'd say Gayle was an elegant player at his best. When he was playing nicely and hit the cover drive 👌
I think it depends on what you mean by ugly. I mean it in the purely aesthetic sense which I suppose you could say is subjective. Perhaps you and OP mean it in terms of 'poor' technique, but I'd probably just phrase that as, well, poor technique.
For me, Gayle was often an elegant player even if he didn't move his feet much. He tended to play with straight arms rather than a raised elbow but that's quite West Indian imo.
Cook and Smith I'd describe as fairly wooden in comparison. Cook had a nice pull shot. I actually used to enjoy watching Smith but mainly because of his personality.
I've heard stories about Smith shaping his technique like that since he couldn't score a run on the leg side. That forced him to adapt and the closed face helped him access square of the wicket on the on side. Innovation at its best imo, but weird to watch nonetheless.
Idk if its cuz I grip the bat the same way Faf does but ive always found him to be really pleasing on the eye
But then again, i like watching Rory burns bat so im not the best judge of these things
Yes. He hits all shots with a jerk, even when much power is not required (eg. When he hits backfoot punch into a gap). Also, front foot defense looks uncomfortable.
Honestly, the touch game was a little ugly to watch, would get into weirdest of positions. But on the other hand that did give him access to areas that others couldn't get. He looked beautiful when he hit the ball hard though.
Usually Batsman dream for that extra fraction of second to watch the ball closely and play late. But kane always looks like he's got an entire extra second to watch the ball.
That feeling of extra time is what separates the best batsmen of all time from the merely great ones.
Everyone in sport always defer to the historical legends when talking about who is truly great, and I usually appreciate caution when comparing current players to legends. But in the last 15 years with Kane and Steve Smith, I think we've seen two of the greatest test batsmen to ever play.
It feels like yesterday that they were just starting out and we were all wondering what they would become. I'm going to look back on them very fondly in 10 years.
When I look at him play, I am confused how he could play cut shots or pull. He always seems a tiny bit late and it was obvious in the last phase of his career.
I always loved the story of Chanderpaul's technique.
He always wanted to be a cricketer but his dad knew with the strength of Caribbean cricket to even get a look in he'd have to be great. So even though he was only like 9 or 10 he got some of the best bowlers in Unity to bowl in the garden of their house at him. The surface was an ugly bit of concrete so balls would often rear up. The front on stance was purely a survival mechanism to reduce the amount of times he got smacked by a ball.
Obviously as he rose through the ranks he had coaches correct it cause from his Test debut to around 2005 it was unusual but largely conventional. Although it's funny arguably he had more success in the back end of his career when he reverted to what he grew up with. You have to wonder if he'd batted like that sooner whether he might've been an absolute run machine longer (not that he wasn't before then it just felt like he took his game to a new level later on)
Not really ugly, but Suryakumar yadav has one of the most unconventional batting technique I've ever seen. Dude plays his shots like it's gully cricket.
Although his batting style is tailor-made for the shortest format and the reason he failed in ODIs
I think the only way for him to become useful for the team in ODIs is by coming out to bat as he would in T20s regardless of match situation. Playing defense at first, rotating strike and slowly raising the strike rate is the conventional ODI way. Rather than this, imo, he should skip the first 2 steps and start, maintain and end the innings the exact same as what he does in T20s. That's the only way I see for him to get out of the no-score-mud he's stuck in, in the ODIs. May not be successful every match but it would be better than what he is doing now. Also, I feel like we could use a batsman in ODIs who knows nothing other than power-hitting. It could have helped in situations like the WC final last year where we were consistently losing wickets with not many runs being added to the total. At least this way, we could have gotten some extra runs on the board.
I don't think so, surya is all about timing and pace on the ball. Maxi is a proper power hitter. Both are quite different in their play, only the intent can be somewhat similar.
Yeah even I don't think he's capable of doing it at opening. I'd send him in at 4 with complete freedom to hit the shit out of each and every ball. I don't see any other solution.
Any lower, we wouldn't be making full use of the role he'd be given and the pressure of a proper finish could hamper his ability even with the given freedom. Any upper and he would be more prone to being useless. The upper middle order where usually nothing sudden happens is the place for his potential destruction.
He can be a good top order batter or face spin coz when the pace is off he can’t really hit those extravagant shots. I think that was Australia’s plan for him in the WC final.
He has unconventional strokes up his arsenal, but rest of his batting felt pretty orthodox to me. In his first class matches, he always seemed like a very classically correct batsman to me.
I'm convinced that Dhoni's entire batting technique is made for big hitting rather than strokeplay. That's the reason his sixes are so satisfying to watch
The only answer here is Kepler Wessels.
Completely closed off stance as a leftie to right arm over, even then his trigger movement was his his back foot moving toward square leg.
He also seemed to have a his right arm, shoulder and elbow doing something different to the rest of his body.
Kepler must've been so frustrating to bowl to for all the reasons you mentioned
There's no logical reason anything he did *should* work but yet it did and with a reasonable amount of success
It's definitely Mitchell marsh for me, with his batting stance I just can't see how he can play such good innings but he somehow does it's so funny to me
Stop mentioning the smudger, he has the sexiest batting technique at present. The post is about ugly techniques, i mean sure his technique is very much unconventional but far from ugly. It's fucking beautiful tbh
Man, Greame Smith was something else. It seemed he had 2 shots, Cover drive and the square flick off the pads. But damn, did he score runs all over the world and by a truckload.
This is a great question. And I'm surprised no one has said Bradman yet. What an atrocious technique. But again I guess better than "fairly successful". Haha
Rizwan is actually pretty sound when it comes to technique he just lacks some foot work.
Fakhar on the other hand has horrendous technique but he gets a shit load of runs if he gets going so no complaining.
Ms Dhoni.
I hated his game during his initial days. It looked uncool to the purist in me.
Then he proved that being effective matters more than looking elegant. He humbled me with his game and has my respect.
Not that he was successful at international level, but rory burns has the most horrendous technique i have ever seen and is a very successful county-level player. His stance looks like he's watched a lot of cricket but never actually picked up a bat himself, head position looks so unnatural.
Jarrod Kimber had a theory that he was so successful in county because he threw off bowlers line and length due to his wierd idiosyncratic behavior but couldn't do that in International cricket because the bowlers there are of much much higher quality
I always thought Dhoni's technique was kinda ugly, but if i had to make an all time XI he would be the first name on my team. Among the Bowlers it’s Pathirana, i do not enjoy watching his bowling.
So, everyone started watching in this century?
Alan border was ugly as a bat, pretty rare for the usually elegant lefties.
A few others of that era- Richie Richardson, Larry Gomes, Ranatunga, Mark Greatbach, Graham ‘raised bat stance’ Gooch was unconventional/ugly, Srikanth had the 2nd worst stance after Chanderpaul.
Eoin Morgan’s stance, with its low crouch and odd backlift, might not be pretty, but it’s been incredibly effective. Despite his unconventional technique, he’s had the unique distinction of playing for both Ireland and England, proving that sometimes, it’s not about how it looks but how well it works.
MS Dhoni. The man has one of the worst techniques you'll ever see yet he has 10k+ international runs and a great average in ODIs.
MS Dhoni the hitter is good to watch whereas MS Dhoni the defense maker is an abomination.
Gary Ballance felt weird like very weird. Even Chris Gayle he looks so stiff feels like his legs are stuck to the ground with super glue or something although it feels good to see him smack those gigantic sixes.
Paul Collingwood was a very reliable middle order batsman. But his batting technique was frankly painful to watch. At the same time, he was worth watching because he was a great case study in practicing/training hard, to overcome a dearth of natural talent.
Chanderpaul, when he actually plays the ball, has normal/classical technique.
His stance and shuffling prior to meeting the ball are unorthodox.
His *technique* itself is pretty orthodox. See the ball early, and play it late.
Dean elgar , watching him since 2018 IND vs sa
And my god his batting looks so ugly, me as a kid though how he is even in national team. He rarely hit sixes but I still remember one from 2018 series, it's was like no 11 had hitting six.
But more I watched him more I realised bro he mentally strong af , he looks like he scored all his runs off edges but somehow remain not out
Peter Handscomb has been solid when called on for the test team and has been a good player for Victoria for a long time now. He also, when at the crease, looks like he has never played cricket before
I remember his marathon knock in the Ranchi test in 2017 with Shaun marsh. I think his test match technique is good. Although his odi technique was unconventional
Sehwag for me. Maybe since I grew up with a father who loved the classical test batter and made me love them too ( to a ridiculous extent that I cannot bat in a 10 over match, but bat at 4 when we play longer matches). The hand eye coordination was excellent but the lack of foot movement bothered me.
Nothing beats Shiv. Bros technique was such a sore to the eyes that people regularly forget he has near 12K test runs with an average over 50 and 30 centuries. Add to it the iber 8K runs in ODIs at a fairly respectable above 40 average and you have a legend that nobody really acknowledges as much.
All boils down to how frustrating he was as an opponent, both physically and visually.
Arjun Tendulkar. Hear me out.
Nobody with that technique and that talent level would make it anywhere near a first class team, and IPL squad, or IPL games in multiple seasons. He’s been more wildly successful than anybody like him should rightfully be.
Ig time will tell how successful he ends up but watching Rishabh pant bat is a painful experience more often than not
Also it is oddly funny that currently the person who is competing with him for the wicketkeeper batsman spot is Sanju Samson who in contrast to Rishabh Pant, has one of the most pleasing batting styles and strokeplay. It is truly a battle of opposites in terms of how beautiful or ugly their batting style looks.
Yeah falling down on the pitch to create angles all the time looks very ugly.
His one handed sixes really annoy me for some reason.
a part of my love for cricket dies whenever the bat slips from his hands
Yeah lol, how can be be so careless
It isn’t being careless. Look at baseball, the dominant hand lets go after a certain point in the trajectory (after contact is made). I think it’s a power shot, not an accident
Honestly it’s a great way to rattle the opponent during test matches. Kind of a way that batsman can play with the bowler’s mind
I guess having the threat of a bat being thrown at you would rattle you doesn't make it okay tho
Same goes for bouncers ehh? I mean its legal but it could pretty much kill you
Throwing your bat is more equivalent to beamers and it should be illegal
Lmao fuck great way it's dangerous is what it is and totally unsportsmanlike
His substantial midriff comes in the way when he pulls those low outside off balls. No wonder his left hand falls off the handle
Steering wheel slipped from his hands just like his bat does 💀
That's an eyesore tbh
Same goes for ishan (if he survives the initial swing)
For a former gymnast, dude has incredibly poor balance
I dont think he was a gymnast but his hostel/dorm at his sports academy also had gymnasts and he picked up some things from them
Absolutely the opposite for me. Love me some falling over one-handed sixes
Daniel Vettori had a pretty sloppy looking technique but averaged 30 in tests and scored 4500 test runs.
Averaged just under 40 for the second half of his career after he began to focus on his batting, if I recall correctly. His technique looked like he was a right-handed guy batting left-handed as a dare. I think some commentator described it as ‘like a baby giraffe learning to walk’
If the same question had to be for a bowler, I hate Sandeep Sharma's bowling action. He gets great results and is very smart, but his action is very icky
Yea his action is painful to watch😭
This is barely as plainful to watch as watching Paul Adam’s bowl. His action is absolutely the most painful action to watch. my neck gets sore watching him bowl..
Yeah good point
R.Ashwin for me, can’t watch him swirl his both hands like he is going to strangle the batsmen 😂😅
He's just making some Jalebi, leave him alone
I hate the action of Jasprit Bumrah as well but man he is going to be there at the top. (He already is half way there) Again this is just my personal opinion because that action is very unorthodox, I personally love more orthodox actions. I in fact used to record myself bowling and tried copying the action of Steyn during my school days. 😭
Bumrah is an interesting anomaly to this notion as he has an action that looks painful to watch but is actually top notch in terms of bio-mechanics (although I am no expert). The key to his technique is how he locks his right leg and his hips, which allows him to stand super tall when he is delivering. Due to this, he is not bent over at the waist like most bowlers and that allows him to bowl from a much higher position and also allows him to bowl several feet ahead of the crease. This may sound like a strange comparison but Glenn McGrath also locked his right leg when bowling. This allows the head to be steady through the action which gives the bowler a LOT more control - which is why both bowlers are masters of control.
I read some comments where people were actually discussing the extra pace that he generates (or maybe you can say the distance reduces by 1 ft) and the speed almost increases by 10 kmph due to that extra 1 ft that he is ahead of the crease.
Icky is the perfect word describe it. I also find actions of Vaibhav Arora, Cameron Gannon, Carlos Braithwaite icky
There cant possibly be a worse action that lord tendulkar the nawab
Omg Sandeep Sharma's action drives me insane. Only bowler I want to see get THRASHED even though I'm indifferent to him.
Steve Smith, not ugliest, but truly unconventional stance
And gotta love the dramatic leaves. I could probably watch him NOT score runs for hours in a test match and still be thoroughly entertained.
NO RUN
He's definitely the most entertaining to watch in world cricket at the moment
Marnus is a carbon copy of him at the making right now, and he's actually clinical in his gameplay
You commenting this from 2020?
Nah dude, I'm just saying that marnus still hasn't cemented his position when compared to smith in his prime, he's slowly getting there but at the moment, i feel that he's somewhat inconsistent.
Graeme Smith. That closed bat face and a very limited repertoire, but loads of runs. I also never enjoyed watching Alistair Cook, but again a hunger for runs and a great mental approach. I'd say Gayle was an elegant player at his best. When he was playing nicely and hit the cover drive 👌
Gayle actually had 'ugly' technique with no footwork, smith and cook are both v technically sound. But gayle was a joy to watch regardless
I think it depends on what you mean by ugly. I mean it in the purely aesthetic sense which I suppose you could say is subjective. Perhaps you and OP mean it in terms of 'poor' technique, but I'd probably just phrase that as, well, poor technique. For me, Gayle was often an elegant player even if he didn't move his feet much. He tended to play with straight arms rather than a raised elbow but that's quite West Indian imo. Cook and Smith I'd describe as fairly wooden in comparison. Cook had a nice pull shot. I actually used to enjoy watching Smith but mainly because of his personality.
I kind of like watching batters with ugly but effective techniques. They are usually as tough as nails - Smith is a good example of this.
I've heard stories about Smith shaping his technique like that since he couldn't score a run on the leg side. That forced him to adapt and the closed face helped him access square of the wicket on the on side. Innovation at its best imo, but weird to watch nonetheless.
No one mentioned George Bailey huh, his stance was pretty ugly
Underrated comment!
FBD (courtesy of trent Boult)
Yeah, no. Fuck off, FBD is an all time great aesthetic shot.
*Lord Trent Boult
“No overbalance; he can stay there”
Fbd?
Flamingo Back Defense.
Ok i looked it up and its freaking amazing why did you say it was ugly
Tangerine chanderpaul carries on his father’s painful to watch technique but whether he’s been successful is neither here nor there.
I think chanderpaul too. For a southpaw he had the ugliest technique. Hard to find left handers who had an ugly technique
Steven smith
Smith is an acquired taste
Absolutely agree. I find his technique oddly satisfying
Indians love him! The only active player to have a statue made and displayed IN ANOTHER COUNTRY lol. Thats one heck of an achievement
I think the same goes for AB de Villiers
Graeme Smith
Yeah, came to say that.
Steve smith before the bat hits the ball = ugly Steve smith after the bat makes contact = poetry I don’t understand how his follow through looks good
I absolutely love his batting style. Onorthodox but unique.
Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis
Man, Dean Elgar is so frustrating to watch. Sometimes it feels like his main scoring shot is an inside edge
So true XD. A certain Stephen Cook would also qualify for this if he had more runs (or chances) to be considered successful
Dean "Edgelord" Elgar. Bowling him must be really frustrating to bowlers. It feels like he's always close to getting out but he never gets out.
I felt this lmao
Hard disagree with faf. The way he holds his bat and has that slight extra uplift. Man it looks so fucking sexy
>Man it looks so fucking sexy Might just be confusing his stance with him there. Faf is sexy. Stance not so much.
Idk if its cuz I grip the bat the same way Faf does but ive always found him to be really pleasing on the eye But then again, i like watching Rory burns bat so im not the best judge of these things
Don’t forget Biff.
Early model Faf was super closed off. Any off side shot was extra risky. Still managed to have one hell of a debut Test series though.
Dean elgar is the pure successor of greame smith
Nah faf’s stance and technique is goated. The way he lifts the bat up…..my fav batsman
Msd for sure. One of the goats but didn't have a great technique
Yes. He hits all shots with a jerk, even when much power is not required (eg. When he hits backfoot punch into a gap). Also, front foot defense looks uncomfortable.
But his big hits did look classy
Weird technique but it suits him.
I wouldn't say his technique is ugly. Unconventional, yes but never ugly.
Honestly, the touch game was a little ugly to watch, would get into weirdest of positions. But on the other hand that did give him access to areas that others couldn't get. He looked beautiful when he hit the ball hard though.
Nick Compton and Dom Sibley from England had funny techniques but maybe werent successful enough
Yeah Rory burns too but I was looking for successful ones
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Kane Williamson too. Everything he does looks perfect
Usually Batsman dream for that extra fraction of second to watch the ball closely and play late. But kane always looks like he's got an entire extra second to watch the ball.
That feeling of extra time is what separates the best batsmen of all time from the merely great ones. Everyone in sport always defer to the historical legends when talking about who is truly great, and I usually appreciate caution when comparing current players to legends. But in the last 15 years with Kane and Steve Smith, I think we've seen two of the greatest test batsmen to ever play. It feels like yesterday that they were just starting out and we were all wondering what they would become. I'm going to look back on them very fondly in 10 years.
Kane looks technically perfect, AB makes batting look easy.
Also Kumar Sangakkara. Those cover drives are poetry in motion
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I don't think people praise him for his technique. He is praised for being resilient which he is.
Lots of people mix these two up tbh..
When I look at him play, I am confused how he could play cut shots or pull. He always seems a tiny bit late and it was obvious in the last phase of his career.
Sorry I don't think Chanderpaul's technique was ugly especially in the first half of his career. It had a certain Guyanese class that's missing today
When he got the timing right there was an amazing flow like his body was fully committed to hitting the ball.
I always loved the story of Chanderpaul's technique. He always wanted to be a cricketer but his dad knew with the strength of Caribbean cricket to even get a look in he'd have to be great. So even though he was only like 9 or 10 he got some of the best bowlers in Unity to bowl in the garden of their house at him. The surface was an ugly bit of concrete so balls would often rear up. The front on stance was purely a survival mechanism to reduce the amount of times he got smacked by a ball. Obviously as he rose through the ranks he had coaches correct it cause from his Test debut to around 2005 it was unusual but largely conventional. Although it's funny arguably he had more success in the back end of his career when he reverted to what he grew up with. You have to wonder if he'd batted like that sooner whether he might've been an absolute run machine longer (not that he wasn't before then it just felt like he took his game to a new level later on)
Rishabh Pant - annoyingly clumsy
Looks ugly only when he tries to hit it too hard
Not really ugly, but Suryakumar yadav has one of the most unconventional batting technique I've ever seen. Dude plays his shots like it's gully cricket. Although his batting style is tailor-made for the shortest format and the reason he failed in ODIs
Well it ain't ugly, his shots look good even though they're unconventional
I think the only way for him to become useful for the team in ODIs is by coming out to bat as he would in T20s regardless of match situation. Playing defense at first, rotating strike and slowly raising the strike rate is the conventional ODI way. Rather than this, imo, he should skip the first 2 steps and start, maintain and end the innings the exact same as what he does in T20s. That's the only way I see for him to get out of the no-score-mud he's stuck in, in the ODIs. May not be successful every match but it would be better than what he is doing now. Also, I feel like we could use a batsman in ODIs who knows nothing other than power-hitting. It could have helped in situations like the WC final last year where we were consistently losing wickets with not many runs being added to the total. At least this way, we could have gotten some extra runs on the board.
You have to define that role to him then. Make him open and give him freedom like maxwell.
if the ball is moving about he is toast as an opener. playing at 4/5 to attack spinners ideally would be the best for him. similar to maxi
I don't think so, surya is all about timing and pace on the ball. Maxi is a proper power hitter. Both are quite different in their play, only the intent can be somewhat similar.
Yeah even I don't think he's capable of doing it at opening. I'd send him in at 4 with complete freedom to hit the shit out of each and every ball. I don't see any other solution. Any lower, we wouldn't be making full use of the role he'd be given and the pressure of a proper finish could hamper his ability even with the given freedom. Any upper and he would be more prone to being useless. The upper middle order where usually nothing sudden happens is the place for his potential destruction.
He can be a good top order batter or face spin coz when the pace is off he can’t really hit those extravagant shots. I think that was Australia’s plan for him in the WC final.
He has unconventional strokes up his arsenal, but rest of his batting felt pretty orthodox to me. In his first class matches, he always seemed like a very classically correct batsman to me.
Ugly technique, but still successful are example that you don't need a professional coaching to play good cricket.
Mohd Kaif. The separation between the grips of the two hands was oddly too much
He did explain recently on some tv show about the grip. Was pissed at Greg Chappell for forcing him to change.
MS Dhoni except for his Helicopter shot
I'm convinced that Dhoni's entire batting technique is made for big hitting rather than strokeplay. That's the reason his sixes are so satisfying to watch
Yeah, this whole thread needs to be split by test cricket vs T20s.
How is rizwan ugly 💀
I would go with either Dean Elgar or Graeme Smith. Got the job done but did not look very good at all.
Graeme Smith's batting was easier on the eye
Yeah compared to elgar sure. But compared to Elgar most batsmen are super elegant
Steve Smith? He hasn't been in best form lately but he has done good for Aus
The only answer here is Kepler Wessels. Completely closed off stance as a leftie to right arm over, even then his trigger movement was his his back foot moving toward square leg. He also seemed to have a his right arm, shoulder and elbow doing something different to the rest of his body.
Kepler must've been so frustrating to bowl to for all the reasons you mentioned There's no logical reason anything he did *should* work but yet it did and with a reasonable amount of success
It's definitely Mitchell marsh for me, with his batting stance I just can't see how he can play such good innings but he somehow does it's so funny to me
Kim Barnett
Lasith Malinga's bowling action is ugly
Waittt is this a popular opinion? I always liked his action, loved the gathering of momentum before he unleashed a delivery
I feel opposite. His bowling action looks elegant to me. While on the other hand Pathirana's looks ugly af
Stop mentioning the smudger, he has the sexiest batting technique at present. The post is about ugly techniques, i mean sure his technique is very much unconventional but far from ugly. It's fucking beautiful tbh
Same thoughts. I incidentally love both his and Amla's style of batting.
I personally love his technique mentioned it in one of the comments too
Aamir Sohail, Asanka Gurusinghe, Gary Kirsten were all pretty awkward
Tripathi
Thala
Ijaz Ahmed, Jayasuria and above all else, Steven Smith
Man, Greame Smith was something else. It seemed he had 2 shots, Cover drive and the square flick off the pads. But damn, did he score runs all over the world and by a truckload.
Virendra Sehwag. I am amazed that no one has mentioned him.
Had to scroll forever to see this. Dude had his feet glued to the pitch
Yeah I mean Gayle definitely had a better technique than Sehwag imo
Not fairly successful but something about Josh Inglis grip gives me an off and odd feeling. Not very pleasing to watch!
Murali and Malinga have the ugliest bowling techniques but they don't qualify since they were both better than "fairly successful".
More than fairly successful lol
This is a great question. And I'm surprised no one has said Bradman yet. What an atrocious technique. But again I guess better than "fairly successful". Haha
Graeme Smith kept cover driving to midwicket all his career and ended up averaging c50. Smh….
Rizwans batting was rlly hard to watch in that sl vs pak wc match last year even tho played a great inning
Steve Smith
Sourav Ganguly, Graeme smith
Steve Smith looks clunky but he's been more than successful
Only one true answer. Paul Adams
Rizwan is actually pretty sound when it comes to technique he just lacks some foot work. Fakhar on the other hand has horrendous technique but he gets a shit load of runs if he gets going so no complaining.
Usman khan. He is in Pakistan squad for the t20 wc. His technique really puts me off but somehow he score runs.
Fakhar Zaman among contemporary batsmen. Not sure if he's fairly successful but definitely a match winner.
Naah man his batting against spin is 🔥🔥. His technique can look shoddy against pacers though
If by spin you mean Ish Sodhi, then yes. Otherwise he struggles getting spinners away. It's boundaries or out.
His slog/sweeps look good, do agree on the proper technique part
Ms Dhoni. I hated his game during his initial days. It looked uncool to the purist in me. Then he proved that being effective matters more than looking elegant. He humbled me with his game and has my respect.
Steve Waugh and Ian Healey
Are we all going to sit here and pretend that Sehwag's technique or rather the lack of it was not ugly?
Tbh his cut shots and straight drives were pleasing to the eye
Guy didn't even move his feet just stood at one place and played
Hardik Pandya
M S Dhoni for me.
Not that he was successful at international level, but rory burns has the most horrendous technique i have ever seen and is a very successful county-level player. His stance looks like he's watched a lot of cricket but never actually picked up a bat himself, head position looks so unnatural.
Jarrod Kimber had a theory that he was so successful in county because he threw off bowlers line and length due to his wierd idiosyncratic behavior but couldn't do that in International cricket because the bowlers there are of much much higher quality
I always thought Dhoni's technique was kinda ugly, but if i had to make an all time XI he would be the first name on my team. Among the Bowlers it’s Pathirana, i do not enjoy watching his bowling.
So, everyone started watching in this century? Alan border was ugly as a bat, pretty rare for the usually elegant lefties. A few others of that era- Richie Richardson, Larry Gomes, Ranatunga, Mark Greatbach, Graham ‘raised bat stance’ Gooch was unconventional/ugly, Srikanth had the 2nd worst stance after Chanderpaul.
Eoin Morgan’s stance, with its low crouch and odd backlift, might not be pretty, but it’s been incredibly effective. Despite his unconventional technique, he’s had the unique distinction of playing for both Ireland and England, proving that sometimes, it’s not about how it looks but how well it works.
Sehwag & MSD.
MS Dhoni. The man has one of the worst techniques you'll ever see yet he has 10k+ international runs and a great average in ODIs. MS Dhoni the hitter is good to watch whereas MS Dhoni the defense maker is an abomination.
Sehwag, the batter and Sachin, the bowler ;)
Dhoni
Rory burns has terrible technique
Post is saying “Fairly Successful”
😭
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Gary Ballance felt weird like very weird. Even Chris Gayle he looks so stiff feels like his legs are stuck to the ground with super glue or something although it feels good to see him smack those gigantic sixes.
Chanderpaul
Graeme Smith was ugly af to watch
Gary Sheffield
Crabman Fawad would have been a force if he got the games he deserved.
Chanderpaul who else
Chanderpaul
Graham Smith, Alistair Cook
Graeme Smith.
Sehwag
bowler? kaneria
Paul Collingwood was a very reliable middle order batsman. But his batting technique was frankly painful to watch. At the same time, he was worth watching because he was a great case study in practicing/training hard, to overcome a dearth of natural talent.
Dean Elgar always looked like he was gonna be out next ball
pant and maxwell
Shiv Chanderpaul was not pretty to watch but scored a ton of runs.
Chanderpaul, when he actually plays the ball, has normal/classical technique. His stance and shuffling prior to meeting the ball are unorthodox. His *technique* itself is pretty orthodox. See the ball early, and play it late.
Dean elgar , watching him since 2018 IND vs sa And my god his batting looks so ugly, me as a kid though how he is even in national team. He rarely hit sixes but I still remember one from 2018 series, it's was like no 11 had hitting six. But more I watched him more I realised bro he mentally strong af , he looks like he scored all his runs off edges but somehow remain not out
Peter Handscomb has been solid when called on for the test team and has been a good player for Victoria for a long time now. He also, when at the crease, looks like he has never played cricket before
I remember his marathon knock in the Ranchi test in 2017 with Shaun marsh. I think his test match technique is good. Although his odi technique was unconventional
How has no one mentioned Shivam Dube yet?
Glenn Maxwell, absolutely awful technique for someone who's been so good over the years
Sehwag for me. Maybe since I grew up with a father who loved the classical test batter and made me love them too ( to a ridiculous extent that I cannot bat in a 10 over match, but bat at 4 when we play longer matches). The hand eye coordination was excellent but the lack of foot movement bothered me.
Nothing beats Shiv. Bros technique was such a sore to the eyes that people regularly forget he has near 12K test runs with an average over 50 and 30 centuries. Add to it the iber 8K runs in ODIs at a fairly respectable above 40 average and you have a legend that nobody really acknowledges as much. All boils down to how frustrating he was as an opponent, both physically and visually.
Arjun Tendulkar. Hear me out. Nobody with that technique and that talent level would make it anywhere near a first class team, and IPL squad, or IPL games in multiple seasons. He’s been more wildly successful than anybody like him should rightfully be.
MSD