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Pakistan veteran batsman Fawad Alam, who made his comeback in Test cricket after 11 long years, grabbed eyeballs of the cricketing fraternity with his peculiar batting stance during the final match against England.
Over the years, numerous batsmen have come up with an improvised technique to adjust their game according to a particular situation. The one name which pops first in the mind is Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies batsman who carried his unorthodox style right until the end of his cricketing career.
Fawad, who scored 21 off 74 deliveries in the first innings, once again drew unnecessary attention for his quirky batting stance.
Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, both of them drew Fawad’s comparison with the former Australia skipper George Bailey.
Bailey, towards the twilight of his career, adopted a weird batting stance. He never looked at the bowler straight but faced towards covers. Also, his shuffle at the crease was outside any cricketing manual.
Bailey featured for Australia in 5 Tests, 90 ODIs and 30 T20Is. He retired from the game in 2019 to join the national selectors’ panel for the men’s team.
"How do you end up coming to cricket with a stance like that?"
With Fawad at the crease, talk has turned to unusual batting stances. What do you make of this one from George Bailey?
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📱 Blog 👉 https://t.co/oUB1mQaiJm pic.twitter.com/ODypnF9AOU— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 23, 2020
Fawad should be judged on his performance, says Moody
Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody thinks that the eccentricity in batting stance shouldn’t be a talking point and the latter should be rather judged on his performance.
“Yes Fawad Alam has an unorthodox stance but at point of ball release he’s in a solid position, judge him on his performance over time, not how he looks. We have seen many exceptional test players with eccentric approaches succeed! #ENGvPAK”, wrote Moody on Twitter.
“Authenticity and individuality makes our game intriguing if we were to manufacture techniques we wouldn’t see the likes of Lara, Smith, Malinga, Akram & Muralijust to mention a few!” he added.
Authenticity and individuality makes our game intriguing, if we were to manufacture techniques we wouldn’t see the likes of Lara, Smith, Malinga, Akram & Murali just to mention a few!
— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) August 23, 2020
