New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips is a truly versatile cricketer—he bats, bowls, keeps wickets, and fields brilliantly on the boundary. Now, the right-hander appears to have added another weapon to his arsenal: batting left-handed.
Phillips stunned fans during a recent Super Smash game by switching to a left-handed stance against a right-arm off-spinner. Rather than slogging as expected, he deftly punched the ball through extra cover, exploiting gaps in the field. The move caught the opposition off guard and raised questions: was it a one-off experiment, or a tactical innovation ahead of the T20 World Cup?
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Phillips explained that he has been working on left-handed batting for over two years to counter negative match-ups in T20 cricket. Against left-arm spin, where the ball typically turns away from him as a right-hander, switching stances offers better scoring options.
“I do enjoy my left-handed batting training,” Phillips said. “It keeps both hands and both sides of the brain active, and also gives me the chance to take on left-arm spin.”
Phillips revealed that the Super Smash appearance was planned to test the skill ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026, starting February 7 in India and Sri Lanka. While he has not yet made it a regular part of his game, he sees it as a strategic option for specific situations.
“It’s about trusting the training and understanding the preparation I’ve done,” he noted. “I’ve generally used it when there’s nothing left to lose, a couple of overs left, and it’s time for a bit of fun.”
With New Zealand set to tour India for an eight-match white-ball series, including five T20Is as World Cup preparation, Phillips’ left-handed experimentation could make him New Zealand’s X-factor, especially against India’s spin-heavy attack featuring Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel.
