Common Batting Mistakes

Earlier I had provided 6 tips for aggressive batting. As a follow up to this post I am providing some common mistakes that batsman make.

1. Incorrect Grip: When holding the bat, there should be a natural V formation in between the hands.
2. Bottom hand dominance: Some players have their Bottom hand go far too around the grip. This gives too much bottom hand dominance. This causes the bat to go too far towards the point or gully in the backlift, resulting in the batsman playing across the line. Playing across the line of the ball means playing at the ball with the downswing of the bat coming through at an angle of the ball. The face of the bat is closed to the line of the ball, giving less surface area of the bat to hit the ball. This increases the chances of the ball being edged behind to the keeper or slips.
3. Do not have the hand too far apart: Control in the grip and your shots, comes from the top hand. When the top hand is in control of the bat, it allows the backlift to go back at the correct angle, allowing the full face of the bat to hit the ball.
4. Don’t stand still for too long: Standing too still before the ball is bowled will put pressure on you. Relax, tap the bat, and move back and forth to be ready to hit the ball.
5. Forward press: do not go across the stumps on the offside before the ball the bowled. The right way is to back up a step or two towards the wicket and go forward with the bat coming down having the head straight looking at the delivery to play the ball.