In cricket, the helicopter shot is the act of hitting the ball using a wristy flick, using the bottom hand as the dominant force. The shot gets its name from the flourish completing the stroke, with the bat being circled overhead. It has been considered an unconventional and innovative stroke that, when executed effectively, can be used to score boundaries, even against good yorkers or fuller-length deliveries, which have traditionally been used by faster bowlers towards the end of limited-overs matches because it is difficult to hit such balls to the boundary.
India's former captain MS Dhoni brought the helicopter shot to the International level. He played that shot regularly to Score boundaries at the slog overs and especially against the fuller length and yorker deliveries. Before MSd's debut in international cricket, his childhood friend and fellow player Santosh Lal taught him how to play the helicopter shot. Originally the shot that Santosh taught MSd was named the 'thappad shot'. Thappad, in Hindi, means slap and it was exactly like that. It was a tight slap on the leather when the bowler unleashes a yorker delivery that was virtually unplayable those days if you missed the flick. By Thappad Shot, one could hit a six off a yorker, and that Dhoni learnt from his friend. Dhoni may have patented the ‘helicopter shot’ but growing up, there was someone better at it. Dhoni always admired his batting style. And Santosh taught him to play the helicopter shot.”
Apart from MS Dhoni, India's all rounder Hardik Pandya has played helicopter shot and Afghanistan's star player Rashid Khan has also played helicopter shot at the International level. Also, Sachin Tendulkar, Aravinda Silva, Kevin Pietersen, Chamara Silva, and Abdul Razzaq are some of those players who played similar shots, although, they all just played on merit of the ball and not as a particular shot and that too only once or twice.
