Sanath Jayasuriya, Wasim Akram, Sourav Ganguly, Brian Charles Lara, Adam Gilchrist, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, these people have one thing in common. Can you spot the common factor?
All of them are left handed batsman. There’s something special about left-hand batsman. Basically when we see a left-handed player, the first question that comes to our mind is that- ‘How do they manage to play so elegantly with their left hands?’ It seems strange to us because most of us are right-handed. One study found that around 9% of the global population is left handed. So why is it like this? Why 9% people are lefty? Let’s try to solve this puzzle of left handed people.
We know Biological symmetry is the balance of proportion between two sides of our body, also known as Bi-Lateral Symmetry. But if we inspect closely no human is perfectly bilaterally symmetric. There’s always a bit asymmetry in our body. That’s why the right side of our body weighs more than the left side. Our brains also have two sides, left and right. Functions of these sides are also different. Most of the times left side of the brain is predominant over the right side. That’s why our nerves come down from the left side of our neck and descend to the right side. This is the reason why most people are right-handed. But sometimes right side of the brain is predominant over the left side. That’s why some people are left-handed.
So, being left handed or right handed depends entirely on the asymmetry of our brains.
Sometimes we see that players bat with right hand but bowl with left hand or bowl with right hand but bat with left hand. Sourav Ganguly was a right-handed batsman, but he bowled with his left hand. Aussie player Michael Clark or Indian Zaheer Khan bats with their right hand but bowl with their left hand. So what might be the reason behind this? Can you tell?
It's because the asymmetries between our left and right side of the brain are minuscule. Anyone can overcome this asymmetry and become a master of both hands just by a little practice.