Kraigg Brathwaite is among the more solid batsmen in West Indies' line-up:
patient outside off stump, willing to wait for balls in his strong areas, and can bat long periods.
But his technique isn't without its faults.
Bhuvi Kumar exposed two of them with a full ball angling into the stumps and straightening just a touch. The ball was certainly full enough to play on the front foot. Brathwaite did not make any kind of stride towards the ball and remained camped in his crease.
To add to his problems, Brathwaite plays with open shoulders, and is nearly chest-on
to the bowler at times. This leaves him at risk of playing across the line even when he is notionally trying to present the full face of the bat. He certainly attempted to do this against Bhuvi.
But instead of starting roughly over off stump, or even from the direction of first slip, and finishing pointing down the V, Brathwaite's bat came down from third slip and finished pointing wide of mid-on.
A bit of movement and the ball missed his outside edge and would have the stumps.
End result: out lbw.
The lack of footwork compounded the skewed alignment.
Had Brathwaite been closer to the pitch of the ball, he would have been at less risk of missing it, or even edging it, even if he had played slightly across the line.
patient outside off stump, willing to wait for balls in his strong areas, and can bat long periods.
But his technique isn't without its faults.
Bhuvi Kumar exposed two of them with a full ball angling into the stumps and straightening just a touch. The ball was certainly full enough to play on the front foot. Brathwaite did not make any kind of stride towards the ball and remained camped in his crease.
To add to his problems, Brathwaite plays with open shoulders, and is nearly chest-on
to the bowler at times. This leaves him at risk of playing across the line even when he is notionally trying to present the full face of the bat. He certainly attempted to do this against Bhuvi.
But instead of starting roughly over off stump, or even from the direction of first slip, and finishing pointing down the V, Brathwaite's bat came down from third slip and finished pointing wide of mid-on.
A bit of movement and the ball missed his outside edge and would have the stumps.
End result: out lbw.
The lack of footwork compounded the skewed alignment.
Had Brathwaite been closer to the pitch of the ball, he would have been at less risk of missing it, or even edging it, even if he had played slightly across the line.
