KINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF COVER DRIVE SHOT AND FORWARD DEFENSE STROKE IN CRICKET

Mr. Pushkar Yadav and Dr. Inder Singh Pal

ABSTRACT

Some people are born sports players and some aren't and no amount of science will turn a clumsy person into a world-class athlete. Many sporting stars understand instinctively how to be the best in their field—and that built-in understanding, gained through years of practice by trial and error, can achieve the same or better results as a theoretical, scientific approach and by totally different means by understanding few kinematics variables for better performance with utilizing less energy or effort in any field of sports so right from the existence of physical education and sports, all the individuals are always interested in enhancing their performance hence today, physical education teachers, coaches and physical trainers are concerned with helping individuals to learn how to move efficiently and effectively. Biomechanics is a sub-discipline of physical education which further has kinematic as one of its branch. The primary purpose of sports biomechanics is to evaluate a living organism’s motion as well as its application of force. It applies the laws of mechanics and physics to study the bodily movements and the causes of movement both internally and externally. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cover drive shot and forward defense stroke in young cricketers with the help of selected kinematic variables. This study may be helpful to the coaches and trainees to understand the weakness or flaws in the technique by watching the cinematographic analysis of cover drive shot and forward defense stroke. The present study was delimited to angular kinematic variable (angle at knee, trunk & elbow joint), linear kinematic variable (center of gravity), and height of back lift. The slow motion effect also adds grace to the knowledge of movement of various body parts and help to understand early or late reaction during anticipation of ball or shot. The video was shot in two planes in slow motion format at 240 fps.

Keywords: Kinematics, center of gravity, cover drive, angle at joints, evaluation of technique, Balance, ball contact, etc.