Grip- Mind & Body Connection: The way batsman grips his bat will determine the kind of stroke he would play & the force application in his strokes played in different directions of ground cause grip facilitates the maneuvering of bat suitable for stroke play.
The mind & body coordination about grip is, the grip over handle of bat is the very connection point of a batsman’s mind and the palm, fingers holding the bat so the more comfortable and the more precise grip a batsman has on his bat, the meticulous will be his stroke play.
The connection/conformity of mind and the palms, fingers gripping the bat is the key , the deeper the connection better the transfer of a batsman’s intention of playing desired stroke on the bat.
Great batsmen mostly are very selective about the feel of grip on bat & its handle type. The feel over grip of bat could be developed through practice but the first feel while selecting the bat is the most rewarding.
Finally , once the great feel of holding bat is developed through correct grip & various strokes are played well then the batsman simply needs to have faith , thorough belief every time he bats & in scoring relentlessly to win more & more games for the team avoiding any distractions from mind or environment.
Some wonderful things emerged out from the Apollo Cricket Club vs Aiming Masters Club match and the most noticeable were the performances of these two players Amogh Kartik and Aurojyoti Biswal taking their team Apollo CC through to the next round of CPCC.
Winning the toss, Aiming chose to bat first and they never knew what was there in store for them. Brought into the attack in the seventh over, biswal destroyed the entire batting line up with a majestic bowling spell picking up 3 crucial wickets and giving away just 8 runs in the first innings. Biswal did not only broke the partnership and did not allow the opposition to settle but also was the chief reason why the Aiming Masters Club were bundled out for just 86 runs in total in the first innings. Even in the second innings, Aurojyoti displayed some wonderful off spin bowling picking up 5 wickets for 36. While this was with the ball, it was Amogh Karthik with the bat who played a superb and a timely knock off 66* to take his team to a thrilling win wherein he smashed a big six in the 2nd last over when his team needed 10 runs to win the match. He was unbeaten and finished the match in style.
No doubt these fantastic performances made the Apollo team win the match by 6 wickets. But one more thing noticeable was this talented little kid Atharwa Binde. Though he scored 7 in the 1st innings, his 7 came off as many as 70 balls in the first innings and also came against a bowling attack which was attacking and troubling the batsman the whole time with pace, short balls and bouncers, he stayed there at the crease like a rock oozing class & patience while the wickets were getting lost at the other side. Atharwa did show a lot of maturity with the bat. Even his 2nd innings 32 was a knock which was very fruitful for the team and his temperament and timings were something which got everybody’s attention in the match.
Playing for Tata Sports Club in the recent match against Air India Sports Club in Times Shield A division match, KP showed everyone his class,grit and grace with a fantastic 190 in the first innings and an unbeaten 52 in the second innings.
Opening the innings and as usual taking his time to settle at the crease like any genuine opening batter, Pawar was the anchor right through the innings and it was just too good to see on how he handled his entire knock and also took his team out of trouble when the chips were down at around 160 for 5. Kaustub effortlessly sailed his team out of trouble with a fantastic 190 in the first innings. To add icing on the cake, Pawar continued his good form in the second innings too with a 52*.
Kaustub Pawar fell short by 10 runs on his way to 200, he fell trap to an LBW , however that does not deter away the fact in any way on how great the knock was.
Kaustub played some magical shots over the covers which were a treat to the eyes but his six off Siddarth Trivedi was the highlight of his brazen 190. With this Knock KP surely would like to make a strong case for his position in the Mumbai Ranji team.
One of the final decisive factor for batsman in stroke making is his back lift & push back.
Back lift position could be between wicket keeper to 2nd sleep, it could be medium, high or low as suitable to individual batsman and push back is what gets a batsman’s shoulder & elbow in line with approaching ball and also further enhances back lift. With appropriate back lift if push is done properly, means suitable for strokes in off side, straight or leg side, or even for cut, pull, sweep then the stroke making becomes very fluent & effective in terms of power /timing, placement & consistency. Most batsmen with excellent hand eye co ordination have very consistent pattern in their back lift & push back. Very few batsmen are aware of it & purposely practice back lift & push back for mastery in each stroke.
The mind & body connection here, the more consistent / rhythmic the batsman’s mind’s thought process towards facing the ball/ or stroke making, then the smoother & crisp will be the back lift & push back while playing strokes.
If we look at most great batsman with their run scoring consistency & timing on ball always have very rhythmic push back & are very consistent with their back lift pattern.
A batsman who wants to achieve great height in batting is supposed to have an un-mess able back lift & push back for most strokes he plays so that the bat swing for strokes is very smooth and stroke timing is crisp.
Surely one of the sweet stories any cricket fan would appreciate is the story of this humble leg-spinner batsman from Mumbai called Bhavesh Patel. The 29 year old cricketer who finally got a call to play for county cricket for Dawdon Cricket Club in the Durham Cricket League Div 1 of UK County Cricket.
A story of a modest beginning playing for Sind’s Sports Club for the past three years in the A Division as well as for Accountant General L&R Club for the past four years, his hard work did pay off as Bhavesh Patel finally got an opportunity to play for Dawdon Cricket Club in UK. Bhavesh Patel who has mostly toiled hard and practiced at cross maidan and other local grounds of Mumbai since last 15 years surely cherishes the experience of playing on a foreign soil. His team finished third in the league and his personal favorite moment was the match against their local rival CM Park in that tournament where he performed smartly with the bat with a 40 not out when his team had lost some quick wickets wherein he eventually steered his team to a fighting total in a must win match! Bhavesh Patel was also quite decent and economical throughout the tournament with the ball too.
Check Bhavesh’s Bowling statistics from the link below:
http://durhamcricketlge.play-cricket.com/website/web_pages/161272
Batting stats available at : http://durhamcricketlge.play-cricket.com/website/web_pages/161271
Bhavesh Patel who is a leg-spinner batsman has also earlier played for Ranji Trophy Mumbai & Considering his talent & the hard work he is putting it wont be far off to see him play in more competitive leagues like IPL.
CricketGraph.com got some excerpts about the recently concluded under-19 North eastern tournament which was successfully held in Nagaland in October 2016 from Rahul Bharadwaj who is the participating sponsor of the tournament. Rahul Bharadwaj also happens to be the England Level 2 Coach & NIS from Patiala in cricket. He has also coached Mumbai Lions in 2016 in the BCCI tournament and Kota Chambal tigers in Rajesthan Premier League.
Following is the excerpt,
The Under-19 tournament was held in the month of October 2016 and was held in the Sovina Stadium in Nagaland. The teams which took part in the tournament were Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Upper Assam & Arunachal Pradesh.
The tournament witnessed some wonderful matches as well as some terrific individual perfomances. Overall the tournament was quite a success and also many players came out performing brightly from it. Some notable mentions are Tahmid Rehman who is an off spinner from Nagaland who did exceptionally well and so did Shivam who is an off spinner from Upper Assam. Opening batsman all-rounder Manav Bal also did well in the tournament.
The tournament witnessed some great matches and individual performances and ended on a positive note with Meghalaya and Nagaland being the joint winners with equal points in the tournament.
Cricketgraph expect to see an equally thrilling tournament next year too and update about it to our cricket lovers.
Datafriends Mumbai are on a roller coaster ride with back to back wins in the Shirdi Tournament. Thanks to some great match winning performances from their side which has pushed them into the quarter-finals. Their standout performance was notably provided by their no.3 batsman Pratik Mahanwar who thrashed the opposition with his brilliant and aggressive 116 not out off just 61 balls laced with some wonderful fours and sixes. No doubt the Innings was quite an entertaining sight to watch!
Data friends Mumbai also witnessed a superb bowling spell from their talented leggie Vinayak Joil who bagged an amazing fifer to rattle the opposition and help their side reach the quarters.
Considering the team’s form in the last three league matches & not allowing the opposition to cross even 100 so far in the league matches, Data friends Mumbai are looking in good form under the able leadership of their aggressive all-rounder Rohidas Koyande. Their upcoming quarter final match against Panvel Avengers would be something to look out for!
A thrilling contest took place between two talented sides namely E.Merck and Morgan Stanley. The match also witnessed some wonderful performances from both the bat and the ball where in Morgan Stanley eventually won the match by 20 Runs!
Winning the toss first, Morgan Stanley put themselves to bat first & they did witnessed a shaky start with their top order giving away wickets quickly but all thanks to their no.6 batsman Sarfaraz who scored an aggressive 23 ball 40 to steer their team to a respectable total of 128 in 20 overs. It was Sarfaraz’s day in the bowling department too with a wonderful bowling spell ripping apart the batting line up of E.Merck Sports club with 4/11 in his 4 overs. A true all-round performance from Sarfaraz also made him the man of the match for his outstanding performance.
Though E.Merck Sports club lost by 20 runs, the only positive from their side was the fruitful performance from their bowler Sagar. P who bowled fantastically well for his 4/19 in 3.4 overs!
This match was a part of ongoing Dreamz Corporate cricket tournament at M.B union played on 22 Oct 2016.
After the comfort and preciseness in bat grip, it is the feet distance, knees flexing in stance that needs to be compact, suitable for batsman’s game and is reflection of approach of his mind.
As most of you are aware that stance distance is decisive in providing a batsman with 1] Stability, Greater the feet distance i.e. broader/wider the batsman’s stance- the more stable is batsman but lesser mobile, means slower /lesser footwork & 2] Mobility, i.e. lesser the distance in feet /narrower the stance , quicker is the batsman in his footwork but at the same time lesser is his stability.
The mind body coordination of batsman’s mind & feet distance are connected in a way that 1] Batsmen who have aggressive/active approach in mind most occasions are quick mover means their minds act faster , You can look at the wider stance of most of attacking batsman in world cricket as they are extra active in mind so having wider stance provides them with necessary stability for executing their mind’s aggressive intends with better balance and more power in their stroke play.
Whereas for batsmen who are very stable in mind, have calm, composed mind have narrower stance / lesser distance in feet which facilitates them with quicker footwork for their stroke play.
The knee flexing in stance is also connected with mind approach. Batsmen with stubborn/closed minds have knees slightly more flex and batsmen with open/flexible mind have knees slightly stiffer or less flexed as you can say as it works well for them.
Few batsmen does increase or decrease their stance feet distance as per the batting approach required in match . You may see few exceptions to mind-body coordination of stance feet distance stability-mobility principal but if you study their mind approach and stance feet distance deeply then you will find same principal working in more or less degree.
So the idea is to know your mind approach and suit /adjust your stance feet distance for complementing your game which requires both stability and mobility for consistent & effective stroke play.
This year in CPCC U-14 cricket tournament there are as many as 12 cricket teams participating. The participating teams are Payyade SC, Kurla SC, DY Patil, CPCC, PDTSA, Amar CC, Apollo CC, Goregaon CC, Aiming Master CC, Prabodhan, Sporting Committee Thane and Sainath CC.
Here is the schedule for the CPCC U14 cricket tournament.
