Batsmen with most bizarre batting stance

Everything’s fair in love and cricket be it in case of the live game or in fantasy cricket. As a sport that hails from early as the 18th century the sport certainly has quite a number of rules and norms that each player should follow in order to maintain the fairness of the sport. From the length of the pitch to how a bowler should ball or a batsman should bat are all fixed. However, one area of batting where the batsman is at his liberty is his batting stance. And while fans pitch their support for the batsmen like Virat Kohli or Sir Don Bradman whose flawless batting made them world class heroes, there also is a significant number of batsmen who are famous for their unconventional and weird style of batting.  

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2. 1. Shivnarine Chanderpaul  

Chanderpaul is one of the greatest West Indies cricketer who also happens to have the most weird looking batting stance. He had a front-on stance, wherein he stood with his chest facing the bowler and bat resting in front of his legs. Both his eyes would firmly be stationed on the bowler every time he came running in. He stood at a 90-degree-angle to the normal batting position. Nevertheless, despite having an unorthodox stance too, Chanderpaul managed to tons of runs, 30 Test hundreds and walk away with an average over 50.  

  

2.       Kevin Pietersen 

Another modern-day batting great, Pietersen too had an unusual batting stance and technique. Whenever he came out to bat, Pietersen would stand at the crease with his feet wide apart from each other and played with a high backlit. The distance between his legs would be so much that a small-sized vehicle may easily pass through the gap. Further, he would keep shuffling and walking across the pitch, making it all the more difficult for the bowlers to bowl at him.  

  

3.       Lance Klusener 

Lance Klusener or Lance ‘Zulu’ Klusener was known for his unusual baseball-like batting stance. He would stand with his bat going as high as his shoulders and then clobber the ball with his club-like bat. The high back-lift had allowed him to hit freely. 

  

4.       Steve Smith 

Former Australian captain Steve Smith also had an unorthodox style for batting. He used to stand with a considerable gap separating his feet and used to keep swerving his bat. Moreover, he used to shuffle and walk across the line before playing a shot and used to get them executed, thanks to his high back-lift. His too much shuffling however used to irritate bowlers and viewers sometimes. But this is also the only batting style has made him the top batsman in the world across formats. 

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3. 5. Hashim Amla 

Also addressed as the run machine from South Africa Amla’s bizarre style batting included him standing with a high back-lift with his bat pointed towards the gully region. Irrespective of this unusual stance, the cricketer managed to score tons of runs across all formats in a short span of time.  

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4. 6. Graham Gooch 

Former England batsman and a legend of the game, Graham Gooch can be considered as the pioneer of awkward batting stance, specifically with high back-lift. His stance was simple yet unorthodox, wherein he would stand with his head in the line of off stump and his bat way over his head. He would then walk across to come in the line of ball once it got delivered. It is said that Gooch has left behind the legacy of high back-lift which batsmen of current generation are taking forward. 

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5. 7. Ijaz Ahmed  

Ijaz’s bizarre batting stance earned him a nickname of ‘The axe man’. Ijaz was known to use his bat as an axe, positioning it right between his legs and hit the ground as if he was cutting wood. But the same stance helped him amass loads of runs for the different teams he played for. 

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6. 8. Fawad Alam 

Pakistani batsman Fawad Alam also had a Chanderpaul-like stance. The only difference being the gap between the legs, which is more in Fawad’s case. His ugly-looking stance allowed him to play more freely and get a better view of the ball while it gets delivered from the bowlers’ hands. 

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7. 9. Abhishek Nayar 

Pakistani batsman Fawad Alam also has a Chanderpaul-like stance. The only difference being the gap between the legs, which is more in Fawad’s case. His ugly-looking stance allows him to play more freely and get a better view of the ball while it gets delivered from the bowlers’ hands. 

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8. 10. Mike Rindel 

Another cricketer from the ‘baseball school of cricket’ who had an unusual batting stance. Rindel, who opened the innings for South Africa in 22 ODIs, would stand wide outside the line of leg stump with his bat’s position as high as over his head. As the bowler would reach to the point of delivery, Rindel would walk across and come in the line of the ball to hit it. His stance and technique attracted lot of eyeballs towards his game, but his career did not go beyond those 22 ODIs. 

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9. 11. Clayton Lambert 

Left-handed batsman Clayton Lambert played five Tests and 12 ODIs in his career which can be divided into two halves; one for West Indies and the other for USA. He changed sides but one thing remained common, his unusual batting style. He had a crouching stance with his feet wide apart and bat resting between them. Lambert would take guard outside the line of leg stump and then walk across as the bowler fired up the delivery.