Switch hit should be banned completely: former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris

NEW DELHI: A few days back, speaking on his official YouTube channel, ace India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had said that batters should be adjudged leg-before wicket even if the ball is pitched outside leg stump if they miss out in an attempt to do the switch hit.

"My question is not whether he can play reverse sweep or not, whether it's negative bowling strategy or not, my point is about lbw. It's unfair that it's not ruled lbw.

"Let batters play the switch hit, but give us LBW when they miss. How can you say it is not LBW when the batter turns? If they start giving that out in all formats of the game, some parity could be retained between bowling and batting," was Ashwin's logic.

As per the current laws, a batter cannot be ruled out lbw if the ball pitches outside the leg, even if it hits the stumps, which is deemed the 'blind spot' for batters. Now, former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris has countered Ashwin's view by calling for a ban on the switch hit itself.

"Well, I sort of gotta go back half a step here. I loved a lot of the points that Ashwin made. I completely disagreed with all his solutions. I actually think even though we just had some fun with the switch hit, I think the switch hit should be banned completely.

"There are rules for captains and bowlers in terms of where their fieldsmen can be, how many behind point, how many on the leg side, all of these things," said Styris on 'Sports Over The Top' show on Sports18.

Styris, the former Blackcaps all-rounder who played 29 Tests, 188 ODIs and 31 T20Is, further explained how a ban on switch hit will make people stop worrying about the lbw law Ashwin spoke about on his Youtube channel.

"So, I don't think a batsman should be able to change his hands over and I don't believe he should be able to change his feet. You can play the reverse sweep or the reverse hit if you like but I don't like this. In terms of the hands, Kevin Pietersen has completely flipped around as a lefthander.

"If you take away the switch hit, but allow all the reverse sweeps and reverse hits, then I think you don't have to worry about the LBW law that Ashwin is talking about. And it allows a fair contest between the bowler and the batsman as well." IANS

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