What Is Defensive Stroke in Cricket?

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Playing sport is an excellent way of exercising the body and keeping the mind fresh. Likewise, watching a sport, be it on television or as a live spectator, is an excellent form of entertainment. Most people have a favourite sport that they either thoroughly enjoy watching or playing. At times, a live game’s thrill and excitement attract many people.

Whatever the sport’s form, be it lawn tennis, basketball or cricket, there are die-hard fans of the sport. Sports enthusiasts love to play sports themselves; they like to collect sports goods and also want to bet and predict the outcome of sports events. Thus, they like to be associated with the sport in one form or the other.

There are many sites that allow sports fans to bet on the outcomes of sports events. The registration process is fairly simple, and they also offer excellent customer support services for their customers. If you, too, are interested and want to know more about this site, you can visit the website of dafabet online.

How Is Cricket Played?

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Cricket is one of the most watched and played sports in some South Asian countries of the world. Most children, right from their childhood, know what a stump, a boundary and a wicket mean. Cricket is a team sport where a team of eleven players plays against another team.

The main action of the game happens on a twenty-two-inch-long pitch. The batsman hits the ball that is delivered to him by the bowler. There are different formats in which this sport is played. There are test matches which go on for four to five days at a stretch. Then there are one-day matches which end within a day. And finally, there are new formats where the game ends in twenty overs.

The defensive shots are usually played in test cricket, where the primary intention of the player is to keep playing for a long duration without getting out. However, for other formats of the game, hitting big shots and scoring more runs within a short span of time might be more critical.

What Are Defensive Shots That Are Played In Cricket?

As the name suggests, defensive shots are those that are used to defend the wicket and not get out. These shots are often played in the test format of the game because here, the intention of the player is to not get out for a long time and to keep scoring runs slowly.

Primarily there are two types of defensive shots that can be played. One is played on the front, and the other is played on the back foot.

Defensive Shots That Are Played On The Front Foot

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The front foot, as the name suggests, puts the entire balance of the body on the front foot. The front foot balances the body. The player advances to play the ball by leaning his left side of the upper body, that is, his torso and shoulders, towards the ball.

Since the player advances his body to play the body, it usually shows that the player is confident about facing the ball. This move can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage. Since the ball’s path is cut short, a tricky movement of the ball like a swing or a spin can be cut short before it can go and hit the wicket or the player’s foot pad.

However, this move can also be risky because here, the cricketer anticipates the path of the ball, and he gets less time to act. Also, this shot is played for fast speed balls which can at times be hurled at speeds exceeding one hundred and forty kilometres per hour.

Defensive shots That Are Played On The Back Foot

The back foot, as the name suggests, puts the entire weight of the body on the back foot, which balances the player. The player stands tall and moves backwards to face the ball. Thus, in this case, the player gets a long time to look at the ball and judge its movement.

Usually, in this shot, the bat is held lightly, and the intention is to hit the ball hard enough so that it does not hit the stump or the batsman’s pad. Usually, in these shots, the ball does not reach far. These shots are played when the bowler delivers a slow or a spin ball.

Although it is generally believed that back foot shots are not ideal for hitting big scores yet some players can score fours and sixes even with this type of shot. As the player takes time to judge the movement of the ball before he hits the ball, these shots require great coordination between the hand and the eye.

Good footwork is of great importance while playing cricket. The feet balance the entire upper body, that is, both the hands with which a cricketer plays the shots. Some players like to play with their front foot, while some prefer using their backfoot. However, an experienced player is one that knows how to switch between both these positions to score the maximum number of runs without getting out.

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Conclusion

However, having good footwork is only one aspect of playing cricket. The sport involves other factors like having good coordination between the hand and the eyes, and it involves having high levels of concentration and alertness. Also, to be a successful cricketer, the player has to be quick in his movements, that is, while running or positioning himself to hit the ball.

He has to be confident and display his mental strength with every ball he faces. Mental strength is crucial for success in all competitive sports as a huge responsibility, and a lot of expectation lies on the player.

Mental strength is all the more necessary for games like cricket and soccer which are loved by millions of people across the world. Here huge amounts of money are involved in organising these events and in betting platforms that predict the game’s outcomes.