Glenn Maxwell is one of the modern-day cricketers who has popularised the switch-hit and more so in the T20I format. He was seen to hit a few of those in the third T20I in Sydney which Australia won. Meanwhile, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has backed the shot in the modern game. The shot has been severely criticised by former Aussie skipper Ian Chappel who has even asked the ICC to ban the shot. Chappell also went onto say that the shot is ‘unfair’ on the part of the bowler who is conceding runs of that shot.
Sourav Ganguly has had his say on the shot which according to many is controversial. He said that the game has changed a lot since the old days and thus the shot is being played. He said he has no problem with the emergence of the shot in recent times.
“The game has moved on, so I don’t see we can take away this popular stroke from the modern-day batsmen,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by Mid-Day.
Sourav Ganguly Backs Glenn Maxwell’s Switch Hit
He further credited the batsmen for pulling this shot off as it requires a lot of strength and executing skills as per him.
“You require a lot of strength to play such courageous shot. Apart from timing and feet movement, a lot of other things are required to play this stroke,” Ganguly said.
He said how Kevin Pietersen was the first batsmen to play the shot and that David Warner should be credited as well for bringing the shot into play.
“Kevin Pietersen was the first to play this shot. Also David Warner’s name should come here. It’s a very good shot if you can hit it nicely,” he further added.
Meanwhile, Maxwell’s unbeaten 54 played a big part in taking Australia to 186 after their 20 overs. He also dismissed his KXIP skipper KL Rahul to give his team an upper-hand in the chase. The Aussies finally won the game by 12 runs and ended the series on a winning note after losing the first two matches. India won the series 2-1.