The switch hit's validity is questionable

This year's Champions League has been a most exciting one with more matches decided in the final over and often off the last delivery than ever before. Still, it has been a two paced event with the bat dominating in Bangalore, and the ball on top in Chennai.

For quite some time now, the pitches in Bangalore have been good cricket wickets with there being enough bounce and carry to encourage a bowler prepared to give it his all, and also for batsmen confident of playing on the bounce. There has been some turn on offer too and the bounce does provide an extra edge to the spinner who tosses the ball rather than bowling it flat.

The pitch is the reason that more sixes have been hit at the Chinnaswamy stadium than the Chidambaram stadium though the Chennai fans got to see one of the biggest sixes hit when David Warner hit one onto the roof of the stadium and the ball rolled over it and out onto the parking lot behind. It was a truly incredible hit and that too off a quick bowler, Doug Bollinger, and that takes some doing.

At the Chinnaswamy stadium, Chris Gayle has been denting the second tiers of various stands regularly and he has also played some astonishing shots. What has stood out in the tournament so far is that most batsmen have played proper cricketing shots to get the runs and not the wild slogs that have usually ended in the batsmen either missing the ball completely or being caught off the edge or the splice of the bat.

There have been some cheeky shots too like the reverse sweep and the switch hit and once again it is a skill that has brought a new dimension to the game. There is a reasonable question mark about the validity of the switch hit for just like a bowler suddenly can't bowl round the wicket when he has started bowling over the wicket without informing the umpire who in turn will inform the batsman, so also the batsman shouldn't be switching his grip from a right handed one to a left hander's without informing the fielding team, and thereby taking advantage of the field placing.

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That is the view of many well known names in the game, but the MCC in all its wisdom has decided that it is fine to do so. Fancy a private club deciding the laws of the game and not the International Cricket Council.

The reverse sweep is another matter altogether and it's a delightful shot when it comes off. The shot was first seen in the 70s when Mushtaq Mohammad, the former Pakistan player, played it but it's only now with more limited overs cricket being played that more and more batsmen are employing it and playing it quite superbly too.

Quite naturally the format is dominated by the batsmen who have the license to throw their bats at the ball from the word 'play' and that is what the crowds love to see too. Those batting at the top of the order have the best chance of making an impact as they get more overs to bat, but we have seen that even those non-recognized batsmen coming down the order have turned the course of the match as Arun Karthik did with that last ball six against the South Australian Redbacks which propelled his team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, into the semifinals.

Scoring a century in a fifty overs game is hard enough, but it is well nigh impossible to do so in the T20 format of the game. Yet, we have had three centuries in the tournament so far, all coming from Australians.

David Warner's effort against Chennai Super Kings is laudable because it not only came in the heat sapping cauldron of the Chidamabaram stadium in Chennai but also won the match for New South Wales Blues and for that awesome innings, he is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

Professional Management Group