Practising to get better at the basics is important if you are aspiring to play like the greats in cricket. Moving from the last blog post about how to face fast bowling, today’s post is entirely about self-batting drills that every aspiring batter must learn to master. Let’s begin.

In order to become a great right-handed or a left-handed batter, it’s important that you focus on your fundamentals and technique. From strengthening your top hand to mastering the perfect follow through along with precise foot movement, everything is important.

For the first part of the drill, hold the handle of the bat using your leading hand, however, with the face of the bat facing upwards. Try bouncing a ball on the bat until you get the hang of it. No, this is not a test for how strong the bat is, but a test to know where the sweetest spot of the bat is. Ensure that you don’t move around when you try bouncing the ball on the bat. Choose a nice spot of the bat, which gives the sweetest sound. Focus on that spot and try bouncing the ball. For an extra challenge, once you feel comfortable with this drill, try closing your eyes and repeat the same exercise. Pretty tricky now, isn’t it?

Let’s follow this up with something even more difficult? Now, try the same exercise, however, not on the wider part of the bat. Try bouncing the ball on the edges of the bat. This is quite challenging as you have very little space to work with.

As for the next drill, it’s time to strengthen your forearms. To start with, based on just your leading arm, grip the handle of the bat. Try to strike the ball presenting the full face of the bat. Have a balanced stance and hit the ball as straight as possible. Now, if you notice that you aren’t able to grip the bat firmly, your leading arm requires conditioning. Try the same drill using just your bottom hand. Try hitting the ball straight. This will help you with your grip and in appreciating the importance of the bottom hand. Like the previous drill, just using your bottom hand, hit the ball straight without flinching your wrists. Present the full face of the bat for the best technique.

How about your technique when you’re trying to face a fast bowler? Most of the time, if it’s someone bowling superfast, the chances of coming down the wicket are significantly lower. On the other hand, as a batter starting to face fast bowling, the idea must be to bat from the crease. Therefore, for this drill, get your coach or your friend to throw balls at you from a shorter distance. Try practising all the drills you’ve learnt till now. Always remember to have a balanced stance with your knees slightly bent. Also, presenting the full face of the bat is pivotal.

As for the next drill, pick up a stump and ask your friend to throw balls at you. As there is little space to work with, the timing can be a little tricky. This drill can help you improve your focus on the ball in order to master the follow through. Once you feel comfortable striking the ball using just a single stump, practising with a cricket bat becomes that much easier.

Moving on to the next batting drill, we learn to master playing the cover drive and the on drive. For this exercise, place a cone with a ball on top a little wider than the off stump and another cone with a ball on top in line with the leg stump. Lean forward and with the perfect stance, strike the ball placed near the off stump maintaining perfect balance. Always remember, for a cover drive, your position should be in line with the ball. Strike the ball presenting the full face of the bat for the best technique.

Similarly, try the technique for the cone placed in line with the leg stump. Take a stride forward, get in line with the ball and strike it towards the on side and along the ground. Practise hard as the technique needs to be precise.

The next self-batting drill is all about shadow batting. Striking the ball is more of a physical exercise. However, as a batter aspiring to make it big, it’s important to train your mind as well. For this drill, stand in front of a mirror and observe yourself while you practise playing clean cricketing shots. Practising in front of a mirror is a fantastic idea because more than a coach, you can be the judge of your grip, your stance and batting position. Try to practise every shot in the book just to make sure your feet movement is clean as a whistle.

To challenge yourself further, try suspending the ball using a string from the ceiling. Next, with a straight bat position, perfect the ideal elbow position and strike the ball. Again, this is an exercise that can strengthen your forearm. Ensure that your top hand firmly grips the bat, while your bottom hand is nice and relaxed.

Remember, repeating these drills is extremely important. For the next post, we learn to master the back foot drill.