When it comes to playing against the short ball, there is no one better than the Indian opener, Rohit Sharma, in modern-day cricket. He masters the art of the pull shot, whether it’s on the back foot or the front. So it is no wonder, then, that when the International Cricket Council (ICC) tweeted asking fans to pick a batsman with the best pull shot and did not have Rohit among the four players they chose to put up pictures of, he was left feeling a little grumpy.
With cricket, like other sports, almost coming to halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, many on twitter are either reliving past highlights, holding opinion polls or posting funny videos as the cricketers have opted for self the quarantine.
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The ICC on Sunday tweeted “Which batsman, past or present, has the best pull shot, in your opinion?” and accompanied the tweet with a split picture of Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli and Herschelle Gibbs. Re-tweeting the post, Rohit Sharma wrote “Someone’s missing here ?? Not easy to work from home I guess”.
Someone’s missing here ?? Not easy to work from home I guess https://t.co/sbonEva7AM
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) March 22, 2020
The ICC post received over two thousand replies with many Indian fans picking Rohit over Virat Kohli, while the general consensus was that former Australia skipper, Ricky Ponting had the best pull shot.
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Earlier, Kevin Pietersen picked former South Africa opener Andrew Hudson – a player few fans remembered – and largely faced disagreement from Twitterati. Pietersen decided to take the name of a batsman that few fans remembered. Hudson played 35 Tests and 89 ODIs for South Africa in the 90s.
Andrew Hudson
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) March 22, 2020
Hudson averaged 33.45 in the longest format and 29.41 in ODIs with a total of six international centuries under his belt. While there were a few users who endorsed Pietersen’s choice, the larger majority disagreed with him, giving their own opinion on who they thought had the best pull shot.
Ponting. Viv wasn’t far behind
— Neil Maher (@Marzey1977) March 22, 2020
Brian Lara
— Andrew Rickard (@andyrick67) March 22, 2020
No, Punter is the master of pull shot. 😀
— HARSH (@Harshpr01180227) March 22, 2020
Rohit Sharma
— M.K.Kori (@MkKori2) March 22, 2020
Ricky Ponting anyday anytime
— RAJESH (@srajesh1989) March 22, 2020
Has to be Andrew Hudson, was surprised his name didn't come up! Good one, @KP24
— Babu Duraiswamy (@srtendulkar) March 22, 2020
Yes Hudson wasn't bad at all 👌
— St.PatrickJ (@pjulies24) March 22, 2020
Has to be @RickyPonting
— Lee Melton (@LeeMelton4) March 22, 2020
Rahul Dravid !!!! Across all continents
— sriramanganesan / காவலன் ஶ்ரீராமன் (@sriramanganesan) March 22, 2020
ABD & Sharma
— Ankit Singh (@anisingh88) March 22, 2020
Cricket is at a complete standstill, just like most other sports around the world. The IPL 2020 has also been suspended till April 15 and could face further postponements or even cancellation. The BCCI has also put domestic matches and tournaments on hold “till further notice”.
