The secret to great batting lies in understanding the technique and focusing on the fundamentals. From the stance to the posture and the follow through, everything matters. From learning to master the lofted drive in the last post, today’s blog primarily focuses on the technique of the reverse sweep.

Batting like the greats takes an incredible amount of practise, effort and patience. One cannot practise just two cricketing shots and aim to shoot for the stars. Moving on from the last post about the lofted drive, today’s blog talks about the reverse sweep, the exact opposite of the traditional sweep shot. However, don’t trick yourself into believing that if you know the sweep shot, this would be a walk in the park. The reverse sweep requires your position and balance to be spot-on.

Generally, the reverse sweep is played when you’re facing spin bowling as it gives you the necessary time to decide.

Now, talking about the technique, have a relaxed stance with your eyes focused on the ball. For the traditional sweep, as a right-handed batter, take a stride forward using your front foot, while your back foot knee is planted on the ground. Now just before you strike the ball, for the sweep shot, your right hand holding the bat goes above your right shoulder and diagonally comes down to play the stroke.

For the reverse sweep, follow the same technique. Take a stride forward using your front foot and place the back foot knee on the ground. Now, when it comes to striking the ball, your right hand that’s holding the bat goes diagonally above your left shoulder. Essentially, holding the same position, the idea is to play like a left-handed batter.

Always remember to point the face of the bat towards the ground to kill the spin and strike the ball towards the backward point position and the short third man region. However, trying to play the reverse sweep shot too square of the off stump can turn risky.

Practise hard as maintaining position along with balance while playing the reverse sweep requires patience and timing. For the next post, we learn the back foot punch.