Cricket Feature: Three players who mastered the art of hook and pull

Batters who can estimate the length of the ball quickly and move their feet with lightning speed can take advantage of this by playing the hook or the pull. These batsmen attack the short ball, forcing the bowlers to field on the back foot rather than dodging the ball.

Undoubtedly, only a few batsmen have this talent and are frequently regarded as some of the most incredible batters in cricket history.

Three top players of “ Pull” and “ Hook”

Ricky Ponting: The right-hander was unquestionably the greatest player in the game's history at the hook and pull strokes. In most cases, he thought the location was perfect and found the hooks and pulls majestic to observe. However, what made him a superb player of those shots was the ability to change his style and play a crushing pull shot if he so desired, even after committing himself on the front foot.

Viv Richards: Viv Richards only wore a cap and thought that wearing a helmet was an admission of fear. It was not surprising that he was a brutal player of the pull and the hook shot throughout his career because that was how he operated. Richards appeared to view a short ball as a personal attack, and depending on how much height the ball had acquired by the time it reached him; his immediate thought was to hook or pull. The pulls were hit so powerfully that it is thought that fielders frequently avoided stopping them, while some of the hooks virtually always landed up over the boundary line.

Sachin Tendulkar: For a significant portion of his career, Sachin Tendulkar was the best batter in the world. He was renowned for his ability to compete against the best fast bowlers in the world on the fastest of wickets. The most outstanding talent of the Indian icon was his propensity for detecting the ball's length much earlier than most other batters, and he could do it even on the quickest of wickets. Tendulkar was a master of the pull shot despite rarely using the hook shot but being capable of doing so when he chooses. He didn't use it as frequently later in his career, but when he was at his best, the pull was used whenever the fast bowlers threw anything even slightly short.