BRIAN LARA SIGNATURE COVER DRIVE
Lara’s cover drive should be taken as a hit rather than a drive.
It is rare to see someone making the cover drive with his bottom-hand providing the power and top-hand guiding the ball. Especially Lara can improvise his shots a lot because he uses his flexible body properly in batting.
In case of cover drive, the West Indian had played it both with his front foot and back foot.
Front foot cover drive
Less footwork
- The left-handed unicorn used his front foot only to get to the reach of the ball.
- He never wanted the transfer of weight to make a sufficient cover drive.
- His weight lied on both the feet with a little more on his front foot when he played cover drive with his magnificent bat swing.
Bat swing
- The higher backlift came down with the same angle of the bat face.
- The massive bat swing accompanied slight adjustment by the top hand to get the ball way in between the gap.
- His typical way of swinging the blade still keeps him aside from other batsmen.
Steady head
- The head stayed steady because of the less footwork.
- You can find his intentions from the position of his head, whether he needed to go through the ground or up above the fielders.
Back foot cover drive
Good length and just short deliveries outside off were chosen for this stroke. He often used his upper body bend, which he uses for the cut shot, to create angle for this shot.
