Among the many batting skills possessed by Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar, upper cut against fast bowlers was one of them, and one that he made sure became a norm as well.
From pulling off the perfect upper cut shot against blistering pace bowling of Test matches in Australia from Brett Lee to Shoaib Akhtar’s pace during the 2003 ODI World Cup match in Centurion, in Tendulkar’s upper cut shot, rocked back on his feet to promptly meet the ball with the bat lifted overhead and beyond the fielder.
But now as we speak a more recent video that has been leaked includes former captain of Pakistan Imran Khan lifting off the upper cut from Michael Holding, the west indies specialist.
Though a composure over two bouts and the perfect, this was hardly done and akin to the manner in which tendulkar’s ones used to all go in an over head way but this once a timber shot over Andy Roberts and the ball crashing into the ground with the sweet spot missing.
And even the former cricketer and now a cricket commentator Tony Grieg in his commentary appreciates it as well as the ball was just appropriate from the boundary rope and so went adopting a format of continue position.
The video clip shown is from the 13th match of Benson and Hedges World Series Cup, which was contested between Pakistan and West Indies, and took place at the Gabba in Brisbane, on January 16th,1982.
Bowling first after winning the toss, West Indies restricted Pakistan to 177/9 in their 50 overs with Imran Khan scoring 31 runs off 30 balls hitting a one six and 4 in-fours.
The West Indies won the match by 1 wicket with 7 balls remaining in the match chasing a revised net on the scoreboard target of 107 runs in 30 overs.
Imran Khan during his playing days earned the reputation of being the best all-rounder in the world who could strike as much with his bat as with his fast bowling, and was an instrumental figure behind the cricketing success of the country in the 80’s and the early 90’s.
Imran Khan was the captain of the Pakistan national cricket team from the year 1982 till 1992 and led the team to its first Cricket World Cup victory in 1992, the most significant milestone achievement in the sporting history of Pakistan.
