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Updated December 15th, 2020 at 09:43 IST

Sunil Gavaskar singles out one HUGE reason behind increasing number of concussions

Former Indian legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar has revealed the reason behind batsmen's inability to play the bouncers and also offered a technical solution.

Reported by: Jatin Malu
Sunil Gavaskar
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In the last month or so, the cricketing community has witnessed several batsmen being hit on the head while some of them have also suffered concussions. Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja top-edged a ball onto his head during the first of the three-match T20I series between India and Australia post which he was ruled out of the series. Jadeja was followed by young Australian batsman Will Pucovski, who missed out on a potential Test debut against India, after being stuck on the helmet during the first practice match between Australia A and India A.

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Sunil Gavaskar's advice for batsmen on how to avoid suffering concussion

The Pucovski concussion incident resulted in the 22-year old being ruled out of India vs Australia pink ball Test in Adelaide starting December 17. Notably, the Pucovski concussion incident was the ninth of his career. Looking at so many batsmen getting concussed, former Indian legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar has revealed the reason behind batsmen's inability to play the bouncers and also offered a technical solution.

While speaking on a show on the official broadcaster of the Australia vs India 2020 series, Gavaskar reckoned that the reason why batsmen are regularly getting concussed is because of always wanting to play on the front foot. The Indian veteran believes that the best way to avoid getting hit on the helmet is to play on the backfoot which helps the batsman to ride the bounce which in turn provides more options to respond to the bouncer.

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According to Gavaskar, most of the modern-day batsmen are not able to ride the bounce and they are so much onto their front foot that they are unable to transfer their weight and get out of the way which makes them locked at the crease. Offering a solution to play bouncers, Gavaskar stated that if batsmen want to succeed on the bouncy Australian pitches, they should play more 'back and across'.

Citing the example of Virat Kohli, Gavaskar said that the Indian captain plays the bouncers so well because he has got that back and across movement which always makes him wait on the back foot for the short ball. He also said the legendary Indian No. 3 batsman Rahul Dravid also used to wait on the back foot. Speaking about Sachin Tendulkar, Gavaskar said that the Master-Blaster had a minimal front press which is why he was balanced when he played the short ball.

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Gavaskar further said that most of the times batsmen who get hit on the helmet are in between the crease where their front foot is outside the crease and their back foot in the crease. He added that very seldom you will find a batsman getting hit if both his feet are inside the crease, near the stumps, because it gives the batsman that extra yard to either duck under the ball or sway out of the way. According to Gavaskar, that is not what is happening with a majority of cricketers today which is why they are getting hit so frequently.

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SOURCE: AP

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Published December 15th, 2020 at 09:42 IST

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