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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007>Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record 08th Mar 2007 12.40 IST By Agencies Sourav Ganguly 's new found approach to batting might fetch him tonnes of runs in the Caribbean, but it may cost him his record of hitting more sixes than anyone in the history of World Cup. Ganguly has slammed 23 sixes in 18 matches, one more than West Indies batting great Viv Richards, but don't expect him to sizzle up similarly in this edition of World Cup, even against no-hopers Bermuda and Bangladesh.
According to Ganguly's own admission, he likes to build his innings before shifting gears but on tardy Caribbean pitches it might just not be possible. By the evidence of eight practice games on two days, admittedly on pitches which would not be used for the World Cup, batsmen have to grind rather than blaze their way to big scores. Notwithstanding the minnows, no one but only Marlon Samuels has scored a century and even India barely tipped the 300-run scale against lowly Netherlands on Tuesday. Ganguly's best chance of hitting maximum shots is in the middle overs and it is in this stretch where teams are packing the off-side field and letting their up-and-down medium-pacers and slow bowlers bowl well outside the off-stump. It is difficult to pick such deliveries on half volley and hoist them over the line and increasingly batsmen are employing slog-sweep to somehow clear the onside field. In Tuesday's match, Rahul Dravid twice slog-swept effortlessly against the Netherlands for sixes though he was caught attempting it once too often. Similar attempt at a six proved to be Mahendra Dhoni 's undoing as well. Experts predict that knowing conditions would be unfavourable for six-hitting in the Caribbean, batsmen are unlikely to put themselves to risk and hence lofted shots, an essential charm of one-day cricket, wouldn't be all too visible. It no longer holds true that grounds in the West Indies are smaller. New stadias are state-of-the-art stuff. Sir Viv Richards reportedly put his foot down when the ground bearing his name in Antigua was initially planned for 60-metre boundaries. Bigger fields to clear is further road-block to soaring hits. This when the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds , Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen , Mark Verdon Boucher and Shaun Maclean Pollock , Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni, Christopher Henry Gayle and Brendon McCullum, Jayasuriya and Shahid Khan Afridi will all be adorning the latest edition of World Cup. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: India Team Page: West Indies | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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