In defence of defence — played right, it can be a sexy shot too
Representational image of batsman Virat Singh playing a forward defence during a Duleep Trophy
| Photo Credit: S.S. Kumar
One of the finest shots I saw on a cricket field came off the bat of Sunil Gavaskar. The bowler was Imran Khan who was fast and had been troubling Indian batsmen series after series. The venue was Chennai where that India-Pakistan Test was played. Imran’s delivery rose sharply, and so too in a sense did the batsman who moved beautifully into line back and across, stood tiptoe, met the ball in the top half of the bat and dropped it at his feet. I can’t remember if Imran applauded, but from outside the boundary, a handful of spectators did. I was in the media box where we didn’t do such things, but in my mind I saluted Gavaskar. That backfoot defence was comparable to...