If you combine Brandon King’s numbers against legspin from CPL22 and the T20Is he’s played since his comeback, they read as 29.2 | 117.74, a clear indication he struggles to attack it consistently.
But why?
We’ll answer this analyzing all 3 of his T20I dismissals against legspin.
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One of the biggest reasons is that he does not have a good powerhitting base.
Notice how early he opens when trying to slog Liam Livingstone down the ground, and how his backfoot straightens along with the front leg.
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The GIF shows the aforementioned errors in real-time, the second image being the frame where his shoulders have stayed side-on with his hips opening up towards Livingstone, and the last 2 images show his backfoot straightening with the front leg from different camera angles.
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The later you open up, the more force you are able to impart onto the ball, but in Brandon’s case he opens up well before the ball even reaches him.
The back foot bend is vital for crucial weight transfer upwards to the hips and shoulders a big key for successful boundary hitting.
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As seen in the last 2 images, that is also not present for Brandon at bat-contact.
Opening up too early makes you lose power instantly, and both key attributes missing in Brandon’s legspin powerhitting, which makes it easy to establish he’s not very good against them.
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This is also prevalent in a setup by Ravi Bishnoi during WI’s tour of India last year, bowling a legbreak outside off on length which Brandon missed.
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The next ball, Brandon was dismissed on a googly full outside off hit to long-on due to another flaw in his legspin game: the inability to anticipate line.
This is evidenced by how he slowly straightens the bat plane, with the bat completely vertical in the third image.
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Due to being unable to correctly anticipate the line, the highest recorded upswing (third frame) is low and not ideal for powerhitting, as it means the initiated downswing that follows is unable to impart much force onto the ball, leading to Brandon being unable to clear long-on.
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But there’s more.
He also ended up slicing the ball, affecting 3 critical variables for powerhitting: launch angle, apex height and airtime.
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Then Mumbai Indians’ head coach Mahela Jayawardene explained in the Netflix documentary Cricket Fever that slicing imparts 50% less power onto the ball.
Slicing the ball can also make the ball end up going finer than intended.
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The error in line anticipation is also seen in his most recent legspin dismissal against Yuzvendra Chahal with how early he committed to the front foot which made him a plumb LBW candidate that he exploited, as Brandon was unable to defend the ball in time.
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Because of this, out of all the bowler types he’s faced at least 30 balls of since his T20I comeback, his legspin SR of 125 is lower than only SLA.
But he’s always been very bad against legspin and still returned a year later after initially being dropped in 2021.
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He made his T20I debut at 24 and was 3 days away from turning 27 when he made his comeback against Pakistan, and given his legspin woes in modern-day T20, it begs the question: is Brandon King a late heir to the throne?
Brandon King's struggles against legspin
Brandon King's struggles against legspin
Brandon King's struggles against legspin
If you combine Brandon King’s numbers against legspin from CPL22 and the T20Is he’s played since his comeback, they read as 29.2 | 117.74, a clear indication he struggles to attack it consistently.
But why?
We’ll answer this analyzing all 3 of his T20I dismissals against legspin.
//
One of the biggest reasons is that he does not have a good powerhitting base.
Notice how early he opens when trying to slog Liam Livingstone down the ground, and how his backfoot straightens along with the front leg.
//
The GIF shows the aforementioned errors in real-time, the second image being the frame where his shoulders have stayed side-on with his hips opening up towards Livingstone, and the last 2 images show his backfoot straightening with the front leg from different camera angles.
//
The later you open up, the more force you are able to impart onto the ball, but in Brandon’s case he opens up well before the ball even reaches him.
The back foot bend is vital for crucial weight transfer upwards to the hips and shoulders a big key for successful boundary hitting.
//
As seen in the last 2 images, that is also not present for Brandon at bat-contact.
Opening up too early makes you lose power instantly, and both key attributes missing in Brandon’s legspin powerhitting, which makes it easy to establish he’s not very good against them.
//
This is also prevalent in a setup by Ravi Bishnoi during WI’s tour of India last year, bowling a legbreak outside off on length which Brandon missed.
//
The next ball, Brandon was dismissed on a googly full outside off hit to long-on due to another flaw in his legspin game: the inability to anticipate line.
This is evidenced by how he slowly straightens the bat plane, with the bat completely vertical in the third image.
//
Due to being unable to correctly anticipate the line, the highest recorded upswing (third frame) is low and not ideal for powerhitting, as it means the initiated downswing that follows is unable to impart much force onto the ball, leading to Brandon being unable to clear long-on.
//
But there’s more.
He also ended up slicing the ball, affecting 3 critical variables for powerhitting: launch angle, apex height and airtime.
//
Then Mumbai Indians’ head coach Mahela Jayawardene explained in the Netflix documentary Cricket Fever that slicing imparts 50% less power onto the ball.
Slicing the ball can also make the ball end up going finer than intended.
//
The error in line anticipation is also seen in his most recent legspin dismissal against Yuzvendra Chahal with how early he committed to the front foot which made him a plumb LBW candidate that he exploited, as Brandon was unable to defend the ball in time.
//
Because of this, out of all the bowler types he’s faced at least 30 balls of since his T20I comeback, his legspin SR of 125 is lower than only SLA.
But he’s always been very bad against legspin and still returned a year later after initially being dropped in 2021.
//
He made his T20I debut at 24 and was 3 days away from turning 27 when he made his comeback against Pakistan, and given his legspin woes in modern-day T20, it begs the question: is Brandon King a late heir to the throne?
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