All Types Of Cricket Shots Explained – 20 Best Cricket Shots

Playing cricket shots is not an easy thing. But we are still seeing plenty of cricket shots in our most loved sport. From Virat Kohli textbook shots to AB Devilliers unorthodox cricket shots, each one has a unique identity. So in this article, we will discuss both orthodox and unorthodox cricket shots with relative field maps. Let’s dive into our topic.

Orthodox or Conventional Cricket Shots

1. Front Foot Defense

When a batter leans on his front foot and blocks the ball, it is called front foot defense. We mostly see this type of shot in Test cricket. The front defense is mainly played when the ball is on the line of the stumps and pitched on good length or full length. So generally, this front-foot defense is mainly used to block the good balls.

2. Back Foot Defense

It is also similar to the front foot defense we mentioned above. But here, the batsman transfers his weight onto the back foot, stands tall, and blocks the ball. The back foot defense is mainly used to face good and short-length deliveries on the body line.

When a batter is intended to save his wicket at any cost, he uses the back foot defense. Therefore the back foot defense also mostly appeared in Test cricket. And these two defensive cricket shots are very safe. The batsman mainly uses these defensive cricket shots to defend his wicket. Also, the ball wouldn’t go much distance from 22 yards when these shots are played.

3. Straight Drive

It is called a straight drive if a batter plays a full-length or good-length ball by showing his entire bat face towards the Sight Screen. A straight drive is played barely when the ball is on the line of the stumps. When the batsman plays a straight drive, he transfers his weight onto the front foot.

If a batter hits a straight drive, the ball mostly travels towards the Sight Screen. It means the ball travels either side of the umpire. The extension to this straight drive is a lofted straight drive. If the batsman extends his arms and continues his bat swing to lift the ball over the bowler’s head, it is known as a lofted straight drive. Cricket God Sachin Tendulkar was the master of this straight drive.

4. On Drive

If a batter plays a shot showing the bat face towards the long-on region, it is called an on-drive. Generally, On-drive is played for full length and good length balls, which was on stumps line. We mostly see this on drive shot is played for picking singles towards long-on region when spinners are bowling. And the batsman played this shot on his front foot.

The extension for this on-drive is a lofted on-drive. Our hitting arc will automatically set in lofted on-drive whenever the ball is pitched in front of our feet, primarily in fuller length. Generally, on-drive is a go-to shot for all batsmen when they are in an aggressive mood.

5. Off Drive

It was the opposite shot of the on-drive. If a batter plays a shot by showing his bat face towards the long-off region, it is called off-drive. It is also a front foot shot, and the ball length is set to be a fuller or good length. However, a batter mostly tends to attempt this shot when a ball travels in outside off stump line.

The extension for the off-drive is a lofted off-drive. But it was complicated to execute. Batsman must acquire the proper skill to play this shot and time it well while playing. Then only a batter can clear the boundary rope. Most of the batsmen intended to play this lofted off-drive to clear the infield. However, the lofted off-drive was one of the most elegant cricket shots.

6. Cover Drive

Cover Drive is one of the elegant cricket shots. When a batter plays a shot with his bat pointing towards the cover region, it is called a cover drive. Batsman drifts onto his front foot to drive the ball through the cover region. Generally, most batters love to play cover drive for full-length and good-length deliveries, especially to put away the juicy half volleys.

Batters are love to play the cover drive when the ball travels in outside off stump line. The extension for this cover drive is a lofted cover drive. It looks gorgeous when a batter lifts a ball over the cover fielders with this lofted cover drive shot. On a few occasions, the lofted cover drive is also called an inside-out shot. However, it was such a difficult shot to execute. Only players with remarkable ability can play these kinds of shots. India test skipper Virat Kohli is a master of playing cover drive. Most of his runs come through this particular shot only.

7. Square Drive

When a batter plays a shot by showing his bat face towards the cover-point region, it is called a square drive. Sometimes batters are intended to slice the ball towards the point region by showing their bat face towards the bowler, also known as a square drive. Square Drive also has the same parameters to play that we have discussed in the above shot.

However, all drives that we have examined have the same rules. Batsman leans onto his front foot and tries to drive fuller and good length balls. The only difference is the line of the ball. So batters are working these drives according to the line of the ball. This shot is played when the ball line is also off stump. It has an extension called lofted square drive, and it is used to propel the ball over a cover point or point fielder. Still, it was a difficult shot execute among all cricket shots.

8. Back Foot Punch or Back Foot Drive

It was one of the gorgeous shots among all cricket shots. When the bowler hits good length or back of a length, batters transfer their weight onto the back foot and penetrate the ball towards the cover or cover-point region. It looks too beautiful. It was only the conventional shot that batters play on their back foot in front of the wicket on the off-side area. However, this shot also has an extension to play on the back-foot lofted drive, but it was complicated to execute.

9. Cut Shot

Usually, the cut shot is played from point to third man region. The batter is always intended to rock back on his back foot and slaps the ball very hard. However, to play the cut shot, the batsman has to free his arms, indicating only the balls that travel away from the off-stump are picked to play the cut shot. Also, batters mostly choose the back of length and short of length deliveries to play this cut shot. 

The Cut Shot is classified into three types.

• Square cut
• Uppercut
• Late Cut

The Square Cut means the ball is slapped hard to entrust it into the point region. Whenever the bowler bowls wide to the batsman, he is struck with a horizontal bat. That means that the bat is swung horizontally, parallel to the ground. But all drives we mentioned above are played with the vertical bat.

The Uppercut is one of the fascinating cricket shots. The batsman cuts the ball very hard when bowlers bump bouncers away from the batsman’s body.

Late Cut is one of the sensible cricket shots. The batsman is intended to touch the ball with soft hands to glide it towards the third man.

10. Leg Glance

This shot is played when the bowler drifts the ball onto the batsman pads. When a bowler a leg-stump delivery onto the batsman pads, the batsman intended to play this leg glance towards the fine leg region. The batsman decides whether to play this shot on the front or back foot, depending on the ball’s length. However, it was one of the risk-free shots among all cricket shots. Because this shot is played to lousy delivery, so unless the batsman has terrible luck, he will not get out for this shot.

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11. Hook Shot

Hook shot was one of the riskiest shots among all cricket shots; however, the reward is also very high. The batsman is intended to play this hook shot for head height bouncers. So on the back foot with the horizontal bat batsman play this shot by showing his bat face towards the fine leg. As we mentioned above, it was one of the most dangerous cricket shots. Australia’s Philip Hughes died while playing this hook shot.

12. Sweep Shot

Most of the time, we see this shot playing on the front foot during spin bowling. So if a bowler delivers a full-length ball, then batsman lying on one knee and sweeps the ball towards the square leg region, then it is called a sweep shot. It was one of the dependable cricket shots to face the spin bowlers on turning tracks. However, the modern cricketers also play a sweep shot too fast bowlers. The sweep shot to place on the ground or onto the air according to batsman wish.

13. Reverse Sweep

Most people consider it one of the unorthodox cricket shots, but the reverse sweep is the most used shot. It was opposite to the conventional seep shot of what we stated above. So the batsman plays this shot with his opposite hand, aiming his bat face towards the third man. It was also one of the counter-attacking shots when bowlers had the upper hand in that particular situation.

14. Slog Sweep

It was an extension to the standard sweep shot because the batsman plays this shot in almost the same position that we have seen in the regular sweep. But the batsman’s bat swing is steered towards the mid-wicket rather than the fine-leg. The slog-sweep is mainly used for hitting a boundary of good-length or full-length balls. It was one of the most aggressive cricket shots.

15. Flick Shot

It was a similar shot to leg-glance. But the flick shot a wide range when compared with leg glance. Also, the batsman plays this shot mainly on the front foot when the ball reaches him on the line of the stumps. So the batsman picks either fuller length or good lengths balls to play a flick shot that drifted on his pads towards the leg side.

It is also known as the flick of the wrist, and it plays according to the field. Because this flick shot has a very long-range, depending on how well the batsman uses his wrist, the flick shot can play from the mid-wicket region to the fine leg region. Extending and playing the same flick shot is called a pickup shot. But pickup shot played with less footwork when compared with flick shot. However, the flick is one of the effortless cricket shots that mainly uses the batsman’s wrist work.

16. Pull Shot

The batsman mostly plays this shot when the bowler hits the short-of-length deliveries. Pull shot may play on the front foot or back foot, depending on the batsman’s ability. If you took India’s Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are examples. In contrast, Rohit comes up on the front foot to pull the ball in front of the wicket mostly, whereas Virat Kohli rocks back on his back foot and plays the pull shot to place the ball behind the wicket.

However, the pull shot has a wide range. According to batsman choice and bowler’s pace, pull shot can play from mid-wicket to fine-leg regions. The pull shot includes a short-arm pull, and a Nataraja pull shot. That means that the shot is played on a single leg. Pull shot is also played like a tennis ball shot where the ball hits over the bowler’s head. India’s Rohit Sharma is one of the best pullers of the ball in the modern cricket era. Pull shot one of the powerful cricket shots.

So, guys, the shots that we have mentioned so far are all orthodox cricket shots. I mean, these are textbook cricket shots in general. However, Some batsmen invented some new shots on their own rather than playing conventional cricket shots. Those are called unorthodox cricket shots. Let’s have a look at those non-conventional cricket shots.

Unorthodox or Non Conventional Cricket Shots

17. Ramp Shot

The batsman touches the ball softly by pointing his bat face towards the sky to play this ramp shot. So the batsmen rock onto his back foot and pick short-of-length chest hight deliveries which travel on the off-stump line.

However, there is another type of ramp shot. Batsman picks off-side full-length balls and lai down on one knee to hit it over a square or fine leg. Mr. 360 AB de Villiers mostly play these kinds of unorthodox cricket shots. Therefore these two shots are also called ramp shots.

18. Switch Hit

It is the most innovative shot that Kevin Peterson plays the most. Before a bowler delivers the ball, the batsman transfers in the opposite direction and plays this shot off-side. Switch hit is mainly used to play good length and back of length balls, especially on the leg stump line. It was of the unpredictable cricket shots.

19. Scoop Shot

Generally, a scoop shot means hitting the ball from the wicket-keeper’s head, like the ramp shot. But there, short balls are picked to hit over the wicket keeper’s head, but here fuller or good length balls are picked to hit over the wicket keeper’s head.

• Paddle scoop
• Dilscoop
• Reverse scoop

Paddle scoop mainly was played by Jos Buttler. He moves off-side before the ball pitches and plays a shot on the back foot, aiming his bat face towards the sky.

Dilscoop means sitting on the knee and hitting the ball over the wicket-keeper and the batsman’s head. It was invented by Sri Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dilshan.

And last but not least, the reverse scoop is played just like reverse sweep but here ball scoops beside the wicket-keeper.

20. Helicopter Shot

There is no need for a comprehensive introduction to this fascinating cricket shot. The most incredible shot invented by captain cool MS Dhoni used to hit sixes for yorker-length deliveries. Accordingly, when the bowler pitches the yorker-length ball, the batter extends his arms and, well over the back foot, swings his bat almost from ground level. However, the bat swing is on the same line from start to finish. Hence it is named Helicopter Shot.

So, guys, these are the main cricket shots played by all batsmen around the globe. However, some batsmen intended to play different kinds of innovative cricket shots to score runs uniquely in a few situations.