In
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
, the helicopter shot is the act of hitting the
ball by means of a wristy flick, using the bottom-hand as the dominant force. The shot gets its name from the flourish completing the stroke, with the
bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...
being circled overhead. It has been considered an unconventional and innovative stroke which, when executed effectively, can be used to score boundaries, even against good
yorker
In cricket, a yorker is a ball bowled (a delivery) which hits the cricket pitch around the batsman's feet. When a batsman assumes a normal stance, this generally means that the cricket ball bounces on the cricket pitch on or near the batsman's ...
s or fuller-length deliveries, which have traditionally been used by faster bowlers towards the end of limited-overs matches because it is difficult to hit such balls to the boundary.
Mohammad Azharuddin
Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
played a shot similar to the helicopter shot against the South African team in 1990 at
Eden Gardens
The Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata, India. Established in 1864, it is the oldest and second-largest cricket stadium in India and third-largest in the world. The stadium currently has a capacity of 66,000.
Eden Gardens is often re ...
.
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
,
Aravinda Silva,
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England betw ...
,
Chamara Silva,
Abdul Razzaq are some of those players who played similar shots, although, they all just played on the merit of the ball and not intentionally as a particular shot itself and that too for only once or twice. The shot got its name and fame through
M. S. Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curre ...
, who played it on a regular basis as a way to score boundaries against full and yorker length deliveries. It was a fellow player
Santosh Lal, a childhood friend of Dhoni, who taught him how to play the shot.
See also
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Cricket terminology
This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...
*
Batting (cricket)
*
Leg side
The leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the sport of cricket. It is the side of the field that corresponds to the batsman's non-dominant hand, from their perspective.
From the point of view of a righ ...
References
{{Reflist
Cricket terminology
Batting (cricket)