'Switch Hit Should be Banned Completely': Former New Zealand Allrounder Wants Fair Contest Between Bat And Ball

In the ever-growing list of unorhodox shots, none has polarised opinions as much as the switch-hit. The shot that involves a batter switching grip to effectively turn into a right-hander or a left-hander moments before the ball has been deliveried continues to evoke raging debates.

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Recently, India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin suggested that the batter should be given out lbw even if the ball pitches outside leg and they miss the shot while going for the switch hit to restore parity.

“Let batters play the switch hit, but give us LBW when they miss. How can you say it is not LBW when the batter turns? If they start giving that out in all formats of the game, some parity could be retained between bowling and batting," Ashwin had said on his YouTube channel.

Former New Zealand allrounder Scott Styris though agrees with Ashwin’s demand of restoring the balance between batters and bowlers but added that instead of modifying the LBW law, the switch-hit should receive a complete ban.

“Well, I sort of gotta go back half a step here. I loved a lot of the points that Ashwin made," Styris said on Sports18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports Over The Top’.

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He added, “I completely disagreed with all his solutions. I actually think even though we just had some fun with the switch hit, I think the switch hit should be banned completely. There are rules for captains and bowlers in terms of where their fieldsmen can be, how many behind point, how many on the leg side, all of these things."

Styris said reverse sweep is acceptable but completely changing stance isn’t fair to the fielding team.

“So, I don’t think a batsman should be able to change his hands over and I don’t believe he should be able to change his feet. You can play the reverse sweep or the reverse hit if you like but I don’t like this. In terms of the hands, Kevin Pietersen has completely flipped around as a left-hander. If you take away the switch hit, but allow all the reverse sweeps and reverse hits, then I think you don’t have to worry about the LBW law that Ashwin is talking about. And it allows a fair contest between the bowler and the batsman as well." Styris said.

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