The Real Inventor Of Over The Top Hitting In ODI's

[aditya123]

I have been hearing for the past 10 years that Jayasuriya changed the entire ODI approach in 1996 with his invention of over the top hitting,
Cos his method of play won sri Lanka the world cup now it seems to me that everyone is under the impression that Jayasuriya was responsible for this approach.

Infact it was Saeed Anwar, Aamer Sohail and Rameez Raja who started this trend in the late 80's and those who have been watching the 1992 World Cup highlights on ESPN Classic will see that Rameez was constantly hitting over the top while opening.

No disrespect to Jaya but the truth is the truth and just cos he won Sri Lanka the world cup in this method doesnt mean everyone has to go overboard and exaggerate like this.

Jaya is still a legend but the tag of him changing the ODI game is undeserved

Long before Jayasuriya,Greatbatch or Afridi, India`s Kris Srikkanth was the one who took the attack to the opposition and took the aerial root.

The 1985 Benson and Hedges` World Championship Of Cricket, which India won, saw some incredible hitting by Srikkanth.
I don`t think many of you even know of him.
I saw some of bis innings on ESPN where I saw him hitting the likes Marshall,Imran,Garner over the top of the bowlers head.

 

[karnog]

Hang on after Jaya i thought it was Lance Klusener... he got player of the tournament you know.

 

[Simbazz]

The arguement around Afridi, im a fan of him but i certainly know whatever team he is in, you cannot build an innings around him or with him, very inpredictable and suffers from slow RR sickness.

Everyone has an opinion, Jaya like SS said, is way above the ranks when it comes to comparing him with Afridi.....

 

[mattfb]

Take a look at the World Classic series. Viv richards hit over the top many times in an innings, same with border, and many more.

 

[angryangy]

It depends exactly what we're just talking about. Aamer Sohail and Rameez Raja were pretty tedious by today's standards, noone in their right mind would consider their style "revolutionary". I'll pay that Saeed Anwar was a frightening batsman, but Viv Richards was arguably even more frightening and he was from an era before; the comparison of Sir Vivian and most of his contemporaries is unbelievable, though some, like his team mate Clive Lloyd, come very close. It's made all the more unreasonable by the consideration that the 30 yard circle was not introduced until 1983 and the 15 overs restriction was not introduced until the early 90s.

There were others; there are always others. Dean Jones' risky singles and attacking of fast bowlers' lengths is as evident today as any other innovation. For Jayasuriya, what he did was pounce on the fielding restrictions and extend the tactical level of the game. It's arguably a kind of brilliance that is only really evident when you're actually watching. The raw numbers don't really describe how he finds an area to score from, or the difficulty involved in those lofted square drives and cuts that virtually bear his name. Somehow, Jayasuriya scared the crap out of people doing what he does and that is why he is considered so important.

All in all, though, you'd be right in thinking that you can't just single out a revolutionary like that. He certainly didn't think it all up on his own, but even Richards wasn't the first to decide more balls needed to be put in the stands.

btw, Afridi? lol. Has he revolutionised anything other than the degree of hype players attract?

 

[mattfb]

Very true. I loved watching dean jones bat on the hilights during the CBS. The "inventor" of hitting over the top came long before 96 but like many have told Jayasuriya mastered it well

 

[aussie_ben91]

Gilchrist is better then Jayasuriya though.

 

[mattfb]

I wouldn't agree with that.
Gilchrist gets out a lot trying to hit over the top but Jayasuriya is a better playing of big hitting.
I will never forget one hundred he got at the SCG. played himself in at the start then started logically hitting big.
Logically hitting big is what most big hitters lack.
Although all in all you cant doubt the fact that Gilchrist is one of the best big hitters but i still think Jayasuryia is the best modern dayer big hitter.

 

[Sureshot]

Well as we all have his hundred fresh in our minds it'll be difficult to say otherwise...

 

[aussie_ben91]

Atleast Gilly gets some bat on it. Jayasuriya tried to flay a loose one across the line to a half-volley on off-stump & got bowled by Franklin in the semi-final and by the looks of things didn't have a clue as to what had happened. Ahaha. Depends how logical you want to get.

 

[mattfb]

Lol he isn't as good as he used to be i will say that. He is ageing you know give the man a break

 

[aussie_ben91]

And Gilchrist isn't?

 

[karnog]

Jaysuriya is 37 and Gilchrist is 35 plus Jaya doesnt have the cussion of ponting, hayden, symonds and Hussey. Jaya has Sangakara and Jawardena but thats really it in terms of class of SL's batting order. Both players are great but i give Jaya more credit because unlike Gilly, hes faced one of the greatest bowlers to ever live. And he has hammered Mcgrath in his time. He was doin it in the final too. BTW its my opinion.

 

[Simbazz]

Individually, Gilchrist is the more "complete" ODI player, no fear, hits the middle nearly every ball and has a leg side hit which can only be bettered by the best (Kevin Pietersen, hey come i can be biased, the stats back me up for once : ) But Jaya is a huge player and like Karnog says, he hasnt got the comfort of the middle order if Australia, but were not talking about the team, we are saying individually who is better, both players in there prime, its Jaya all the way but at the moment Gilchrist is THE best ODI batsmen bar KP (in my opinion obviously) Thing is Gilchrist can hit boundries all the time wereas Jaya has gotten on with his age now and is edging a lot and not timing them every ball, both are still world class, dont get me wrong, give me a choice over Gilly and Jaya i'd take both

 

[AbBh]

You cant pinpoint any one batsman as the inventor of hitting over the top. But Jayasuriya is certainly the best at it. He has hit the highest number of sixes. Not only that he has scored more than 12000 runs and 25 centuries. Which shows he has been very sucessful with hitting over the top unlike Afridi.
Gilchrist is a better batsman than him but Jayasuriya is better than him at hitting over the top.