Dominating in white-ball cricket but struggling in Tests — that’s the story of most of the batsmen today. According to John Buchanan, there’s “erosion of players with good technique.”
“My broad view of the game is that good technique and the development of good batting skills are being compromised by the early introduction of protective equipment such as helmets.
“Subsequently, over time, we are seeing erosion of players with good technique, or at best being able to adjust their technique to the requirements of the game or the situation,” Buchanan, under whose coaching Australia won 16 Test matches on the trot, told The Telegraph.
Buchanan feels barring Steve Smith, the technique of all other batsmen across both teams in this Ashes has been “inadequate.”
“The clearest example in the current Ashes Test series is that when the ball is moving in the air or off the seam, most batsmen — barring Steve Smith — find their technique inadequate,” Buchanan said.
Ben Stokes, though, played the knock of his life on Sunday when he hit an unbeaten 135 —also his second century of this Ashes — to guide England to an unbelievable one-wicket win at Headingley, levelling the series 1-1.
Wasim Jaffer, who has two double-centuries as opener for India, spoke on similar lines. “I think today’s batsmen don’t give that much importance to technique, like it used to be in the past. They play so much of T20 cricket, so there’s more emphasis on power-hitting.
“During our times, the focus was on how to survive, build an innings and how to bat the whole day. Now there’s so much of white-ball cricket, so the emphasis is on scoring runs rather than surviving even when the ball is doing something or during a testing spell,” Jaffer said.
However, former India player Deep Dasgupta feels for the current-generation batsmen.
“The definition of technique has changed. What has happened is, technique has evolved. Test cricket has in the last two three years become very popular, entertaining and far more result-oriented, and that’s because the attacking technique and footwork of batsmen have improved.
“Yes, I agree defensive technique has gone down. The challenge for the current generation is, you have to leave deliveries as well as get runs,” Dasgupta explained.
According to Pravin Amre, who scored a Test century on debut on a bouncy Durban pitch in 1992, temperament is equally important.
“You can always improve on your technique, but temperament is what matters in the end. And that’s also why someone like Sunil Gavaskar is still looked up to and revered.”