5 AB de villiers shots that make him impossible to contain | cricketcriteria

5 AB de villiers shots that make him impossible to contain

          AB de Villiers has his own way of using the bat. He uses it like a wand, a racket, even a golf club. Sometimes, if it suits him, three balls in succession. It might look to somehow strangely defy the immutable laws of nature, but his hitting is so good because he uses the physics of it so well. Exceptionally, in fact.

          He unerringly succeeds in keeping a very low centre-of-gravity, giving him the balance to improvise his positions at the crease. He manipulates the length of the bowlers by moving back, across, away, and even towards the delivery. Coupled with this, he picks up the line of the ball freakishly fast, from the wrist position of the bowler. What we as the untrained eyes call unorthodox is advanced kinaesthetics displayed by a genius.

         It's anticipation, preparation and execution in a fraction of a second, enough to scar a bowler for a lifetime. It induces gasps of disbelief for spectators and team-mates alike, but for him, it is as mundane as any Monday.

         Before commencing the list, two honourable mentions - the switch hit and the reverse scoop; both didn't make the list because AB doesn't play them as often as the ones that made the cut. Here's a look at five shots of his in no particular order or ranking - because come on, each is in a class of its own.

#1 Lofted Drive

AB de Villiers has the orthodox pulls, square-cuts, extra-cover drives and on-drives in his arsenal that are a sheer delight. But when he decides to put up a show, the improvised innovations make their appearance.The lofted drive can fly from cover to long on, extending his hitting arc by another 120 degrees in front of the square. Similarly over-pitched deliveries can fly over the extra-cover boundary, thus straight into the sightscreen or be launched further to the left, making the fielders redundant.

This makes him a true 360-degree batsman. Incredibly effective and impossible to contain. Right now, the only one of his kind.

#2 Slog Sweep

Although played against spinners of all kind - off, leg, finger, wrist and chinaman, the AB slog sweep is more of a weapon of mass destruction against the leg spinners.The in vogue hot property of any Twenty20 bowling line-up in recent times. Again, whether the delivery is a wrong 'un, leg-break or a slider is fairly inconsequential. He uses his wrists to smother the spin, as also to help the delivery along its trajectory according to the situation. The ball will travel. whether he hits with or against the spin.

This arms de Villiers with his second 120-degree arc - from long leg to long on.

#3 Reverse Sweep

Again, this requires a lot of guts, apart from skill. This is possible by keeping his head still, centre-of-gravity low, and a quick change in the batting grip. Incredibly, he reverse sweeps without discrimination. Lesser players execute it against spinners as it gives them more time to change the grip. The South African though plays it against both spinners and fast bowlers. Fast bowlers mind you, not dibbly-dobbly trundlers. 

Imagine the setback to a speedster's confidence after being reverse swept. That's what AB de Villiers is capable of Leaving the opposition demoralised and witless.

#4 Lap Shot/Legside Hoick

AB de Villiers might be balanced or fall over while executing his leg hoick. Often, he over balances while trying to meet the ball from the middle of the bat making minor adjustments to enable himself to do so. The results are spectacular. He would step outside the off-stump way outside and then, on one knee, he would connect the ball that bowler thought was a yorker, when he delivered it. In fact, the length doesn't matter. AB has the skill to move around the crease (forward, back or sideways) just the right amount to manipulate the length to his liking.

If it's very full, it will go; and if it's a full toss, well then, it is catching practice for the crowd, for sure. It is so good, he should get it copyrighted.

#5 Dilscoop

The ball, once ramped while playing the Dilscoop, can clatter into his helmet if it doesn't get the right angle of elevation to sail over. 

Tillakaratne Dilshan, the inventor of the shot played it against good length and slightly short of length deliveries and ramped it straight over the keeper's head, where there are no fielders. 

Others, like Brendon McCullum, do it with a fair degree of success, but what's shockingly effective about the de Villiers version is that he can scoop it over the wicket-keeper, fine-leg and third man in at least a 120-degree arc. An inverted 'V' if you may call that. Captains can forget setting a field. It is of no avail.