How to Hold a Cricket Bat?

The way players hold a cricket bat affects the way they play, and even a little change in their techniques alters the shot’s angle through leg-side and off-side and limits the swing distance. Therefore, each cricket player has a different method of holding a bat, according to their comfort level and correctly.

There are four grips techniques to hold a bat — V Grip, Closed Face Grip, Open Space Grip, and Don Bradman’s grip. Though every player’s basic playing method uses V-Grip, they slowly start experimenting with the different grip styles as they advanced their skill.

Let us understand in detail how the majority of players hold a cricket bat.

1. The V-Grip

The V-Grip is also called the traditional or an orthodox way to hold a cricket bat because the V-Grip is the primary method to hold a cricket bat in the right way.

The V-shape is created by placing the wrist of both hands on the back of the bat’s middle handle. To make the V shape, one needs to point the forefingers and thumb parallel to each other, forming a shape V.

The player should set the right and left wrists with a little gap from one another to balance it while hitting the ball and a distance of 8–10 inches between feet. The right-hand player needs to put their right wrist on top, while the left-hand player needs to put their left wrist on top. The grip needs to loosen up to swing the bat freely.

The wrist grip that touches the lower tip of the cricket bat handle will form more force, which is the right way to hit the vertical shots. At the same time, the wrist grip places towards the upper tip of the cricket bat will give the player more force to hit the ball horizontally. Ensures to keep a little distance between both of your hands. It should be placed equally in a balance distance to give the player maximum control and power to hit the ball. The closer the distance, the less power the player will get.

Whether you are a beginner or a professional, the V-grip can never go out of style, and it is the most used grip while playing cricket and allows the player to hit the ball on all sides.

Also See: List of Pakistani Shia Cricketers

2. Closed-Face Grip

A closed face grip is also known as an O-shaped grip, the holding a cricket bat technique closed to a leg-side. The closed-face grip is generally adapted by that player who is well trained and has a firm grip over the bottom of the bat; therefore, it allows the player to hit the powerful shot on the leg side.

How to Hold Closed Face Grip:

• Start with the V-grip technique, then slowly wrap the bottom finger under the bat (in V-grip, only the upper side of fingers resting on the grip); it creates an O-shaped grip.
• The closed face grip puts absolute pressure on the bottom wrist and is the best grip technique to swing the shot.

The closed face grip is not advisable to hit the shot off-side; therefore, the advanced players’ technique to switch the fingers while playing the match depends upon how the bowler swings the ball. The closed face grip was the technique majorly adapted by Graeme Smith, the former South African batsman.

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