Paddle scoop

A paddle scoop is a modern cricketing shot, similar to the Marillier shot. Players use it more and more often in One Day International and Twenty20 cricket matches, since it appeared in the early 21st century. The player makes the shot by positioning the body square-on with the ball, both feet pointing towards the bowler at a perpendicular angle. The player uses the bat to deflect the ball over the batsman's leg side shoulder, thus guiding the ball towards the fine leg region.

The shot is considered unorthodox, and not usually included in coaching manuals and textbooks. Many purists suggest it is not a true, graceful cricketing shot. However, executed well, the paddle-scoop is useful—often because it can be used on a delivery that is usually considered a good "line and length" delivery, and otherwise difficult to score runs on.

Also, the area where the shot sends the ball is often not patrolled by a fielder—and since the bowler's pace on the ball (faster than the pace imparted by a batsman's hit) sends it to the boundary, fielders may still find it difficult to cover more than a couple of yards on either side of themselves to stop the ball, because of its momentum.

This shot requires good hand-eye coordination and bravery, especially against faster bowlers—where a miss can not only result in the batsmen being dismissed. but the ball can injure the batsman if it hits his head. However, used occasionally as a calculated risk, the shot can frustrate the fielding side's captain, because positioning a fielder to stop a paddle scoop may present gaps and scoring opportunities in other areas.

Batsmen known to play such shots frequently in international cricket include Sachin Tendulkar (India), Robin Uthappa (India), Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh), Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan) and Brendon McCullum (New Zealand). Many modern other batsmen now use this shot, and it is increasingly accepted.

Ashraful scored a couple of boundaries playing this shot, which helped Bangladesh win the game against South Africa in the venue of Providence, Guyana in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.

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