It’s that time of the year again, where all the cricket fans are gonna go crazy when a player smashes a six. As IPL 2021 has just started, fans are happy even though no one will witness the match live.
But on every six being hit out in the ground, a fan will jump out with full enthusiasm. To hit sixes seems easy but that’s not the case, there is always another side of the story.
Kevin Pietersen, Darren Lehmann, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, and Reeza Hendricks, all cricket legends, share about the preparation, timing and hard work required to smash the six. They also describe how new-millennium cricketers can hit so many sixes in a single inning.
“Hitting sixes is about confidence and knowing your tools, in the 2010 world cup which we won in the Caribbean, that was the first time we went out and practised range hitting. If a ball is in the area where I am clouting, she goes,” Kevin Piteresen said that on the subject of how modern players are hitting the ball higher than ever before.
While Dwaine Pretorius emphasised the importance of knowing which ball to strike and which one is your power. In the same vein, Reeza Hendricks added that the basics of the game haven't changed, but everything else has.
Missing the old days, Darren Lehman, Former cricketer and Australian coach said, “ The feeling when you have hit a six, it just comes out from the great sound of the bat, that is what I do miss as a batsman".
Not just practice but physique also matters when it comes to playing. David Miller said. “You can always get the power through the gym and get strong but if you look at Nicholas Pooran at the moment, even AB De Villiers, they are not as big and strong. It is something that you are constantly grooving and constantly working on. I am not necessarily big on the weight of a bat, but it makes a massive difference in the mental side of things. Gone are the days of getting yourself in. Players are realising that they can score 13 or 14 overs."