Better than Brian Lara? Dinesh Karthik decodes the science behind Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s massive backlift punch and brute power

Better than Brian Lara? Dinesh Karthik decodes the science behind Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s massive backlift punch and brute power originally appeared on Cricket News.
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 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Dinesh Karthik says Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s power comes from hip-shoulder separation and an unusual backlift.
• The 15-year-old hit 45 off 19 balls in India’s six-wicket win over New Zealand.
• Karthik also feels the world champions are in a different league, with nobody close.

Dinesh Karthik on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: Explains power-hitting technique, hip-shoulder separation and backlift

Dinesh Karthik certainly believes Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has something special going on with his bat swing, and the former India wicketkeeper has now explained in some detail how a boy of 15 manages to clear the boundary with such ease.

The teenager hits boundaries at will, and he scores at strike rates that look almost unreal on paper. On Tuesday, his 19-ball 45 in Wellington was another reminder of what he can do when he is sent out to open the batting.

He and Abhishek Sharma put together a stand of 133 runs, which set up a six-wicket win for India in Wellington. Sooryavanshi was dismissed after a rampaging knock, but Abhishek stayed on and made a century, scoring 113 off 38 balls, and he was named Player of the Match. The result gave India an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match T20I series.

MORE: India’s batting belief is reaching frightening levels

Karthik pointed to a skill that is known in power-hitting as hip-shoulder separation, and he said the teenager has mastered it. In simple terms, Sooryavanshi opens up his hips and pelvis while keeping his upper body and shoulders turned back, so that the muscles around his core are stretched like a loaded spring.

He then lets everything go at once, and the bat head swings into the ball at great speed. The energy in that movement travels up through the body in a chain, starting from the ground, passing through the hips and the core, and finally reaching the shoulders and the bat.

That is what produces the torque, and it explains why a slim teenager can hit the ball as far as he does.

Here is how Karthik described it: “He’s got a lot of mechanisms, right, the way he torques, and it’s called a shoulder-hip-shoulder separation; they call it in power-hitting. He’s probably one of the best at it, how well he’s able to coil, then uncoil as he’s able to hit it. It’s pure power. He hits it as long as anybody who’s playing the game.”

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BCCI/Creimas

Sooryavanshi’s backlift and the Brian Lara comparison

Karthik then moved on to the backlift, which is the first thing most people notice when Sooryavanshi comes out to bat. He drew a comparison with Lara, whose high and unorthodox style was loved by everyone, though very few players were able to copy it properly even if plenty tried.

Karthik said he expects the same thing to happen with the young Indian.

“He, if you had to compare his, one of the marvels of someone having an extraordinary backlift up until Vaibhav came along, if you spoke about some and backlift that is very unorthodox, but beautiful, but not many could copy, but everybody tried impersonating Brian Lara. I think there’ll be a lot of people trying to copy what Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is doing,” he said.

The former wicketkeeper was quick to add a note of caution, because what works for one batter can be a risk for another. By the book, he said, a very high backlift is not the right way to go about things, and most coaches would tell a young player not to take the bat back that far. Sooryavanshi is the exception, since the extra coil allows him to bring the bat down with more force.

Karthik added: “Scientifically, if you ask, technically, it’s not it’s not the right thing to do, so to say, because most coaches will say, ‘No, don’t go beyond.’ But because he gets that extra coil, he’s able to bring that bat down, and that gives so much more power. It’s incredible what he is actually producing in terms of sheer bat speed and the distance he hits.”

MORE: ‘He is selfless!’: Abhishek credits Samson for setting India’s fearless tone

Sooryavanshi shows that T20 batting is moving away from the old textbook

Karthik’s explanation tells us a lot about where modern T20 batting is heading. For decades, coaches in this part of the world have taught the straight bat, the still head and the compact backlift, and that approach still has plenty of value in Test cricket.

In the shortest format, however, the game is changing quickly, and the ideas now being talked about sound closer to baseball than to the old MCC coaching manual. Rotation, torque and the delay between the hips and shoulders are becoming just as important as footwork.

What stands out about Sooryavanshi is that his sixes don’t seem to depend on muscle alone. They come from leverage that he can repeat, and that is why he keeps producing big scores at the age of 15. A batter who relies only on strength can fall away quickly, whereas one who has a sound hitting sequence can keep going as he grows.

Still, the Lara comparison should be treated with care. Lara was a master of Test and one-day cricket for many years, and Sooryavanshi has a long road ahead of him. Karthik himself warned that the style isn’t one that every coach would recommend, so young players should be careful before copying it.

If the boy keeps his form and stays fit, though, the world may soon be talking about a new kind of batting hero, and India’s coaches will need to be open-minded enough to let him play his own way.

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