Poetry in Motion – The Cover Drive




Rahul Dravid - The Cover Drive

Rahul Dravid – The Cover Drive

If I were to give a small kid, all of 6 years, who just started to watch cricket a cricket bat and bowled a ball slow enough for him to play it, 9 times out of 10, he is going to swipe the ball towards the cow-corner and of course, break a few vases in my room. But, when the same kid starts to take cricket quite seriously and has 10 years of cricket watching experience – including Test cricket featuring Michael Vaughan, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid – I can bet that 9 times out of 10, a close ball will either be driven straight or driven through covers.

The love for the cover drive and the straight drive is like wine. The experience comes with time, the pleasure in indulging in it gets better as years fly by. In 15 years, he will relinquish the very idea of pulling a short ball pitching outside off – which is becoming quite an effective trend these days – but, he would rather move his back leg a tad towards the off stump and get his bat high up and punch the ball with such finesse to ensure that the ball kisses the grass all the way to the ropes.

To call the cover drive poetic would do injustice to both poetry and the cover drive. They are two entities lovingly tied in wedlock and to talk of one would mean that you talk of the other. A layman may try to pull and sweep and swat at every delivery, but if you ask him to choose a Rahul Dravid cover drive or a Jacques Kallis hook, we would gleefully take the former with tears of joy welling up in his eyes. Such is the divinity in the stroke.

Just like a masseuse the artist needs to keep it as soft as possible for the painting to come out right. A wild attempt to thrash the cherry away would mess the whole art up and make it look clumsy. But, if he’d rather caress the ball with love and utmost ease and grace, even Van Gogh will be put to shame.

If the leg glance made the bowler kick himself, the cut would make him furious. If the sweep exasperated a spinner, the late cut evinced a wry smile. But, the cover drive is a gift from the Gods. You just cannot hate it. You just cannot. The perfect cover drive will be duly appreciated by even the likes of Merv Hughes, Jeff Thomson, Derek Underwood, Jim Laker, Shane Warne, Courtney Walsh and the other greats.

If the near-perfect cover drive gleams in your repertoire you can say you are one among the very few elite batsmen who can play the stroke to near-perfection. One needn’t be an exponent of the stroke, but you can always respect it for it has the resplendence associated with a ballerina. It has the regal authority associated with Rajaraja Chola. It has the tenderness associated with a mother’s love. It has the romantic connection with the sport just like Keats and poetry. A perfect cover drive has a boundary written all over it.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Author:

Cricket

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti enjoys gully cricket in Jaipur

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti enjoys gully cricket in Jaipur

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 4th, 2024

Jaipur, 04 February 2024: US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti was in the pink city on Saturday where the Ambassador dropped by Rajasthan Royals’ home stadium ..

Football

LALIGA Concludes ‘Extra Time’ Webinar Series

LALIGA Concludes ‘Extra Time’ Webinar Series

Posted by: Pooja Kamboj on May 16th, 2024

Continuing to work alongside stakeholders from the sports fraternity, LALIGA, the world’s largest football ecosystem, brought the curtains down on this se ..

Tennis

Leander Paes inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame

Leander Paes inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on December 19th, 2023

Former doubles world No. 1 Leander Paes was recently elected to receive the Ultimate Honor in Tennis – induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame &# ..

F1

Life Lessons learned from Sports & Fitness #TOSBDay

Life Lessons learned from Sports & Fitness #TOSBDay

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on September 26th, 2016

Held on Sept 1st, The Outstanding Speakers’ Bureau (TOSB) Twinterview consisted of sports panelists such as Mark Gallagher (Public Speaker on F1 race), Shayam ..

Boxing

Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker set for huge showdown

Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker set for huge showdown

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 15th, 2018

It looks like it will be a scintillating couple of months for fans of elite boxing. There is the prospect of the rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Ca ..

Other Sports

The 2023-24 Season of the Los Angeles Clippers: A Mid-Season Review

The 2023-24 Season of the Los Angeles Clippers: A Mid-Season Review

Posted by: Vikram Kamboj on February 15th, 2024

As the 2023-24 NBA season approaches the All-Star break, the Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as a formidable force in the Western Conference, showcasing their ..

One stop guide to all the latest sports news, reviews, opinions, fixtures and live scores from India and around the world.

Copyright © 2024 | The Sports Mirror