Cricketers and the Bat they use
There are many brands available in the market, where each player selects it according to their comfort and needs, and a few go for customized ones. People cannot say everyone should use the same bat to play.
Where M. S. Dhoni uses a weighted bat during death overs to time the ball good enough to score a boundary in each ball, Chris Gayle uses a Spartan CG ‘The Boss’ which weighs between 1.1 to 1.3 kg from the start of the innings, and Steve Smith has a different taste & comfort and uses a different bat.
There are other options which are available to the players; they can choose between an English or Kashmir willow, short or long handle, different kind of grips on the handle, and so on… but the law 5 of the laws of cricket has few rules where each one of them has to follow while choosing a cricket bat.
The law states that the length of the bat should not be more than 38” (965mm), the width should not be more than 4.25″ (108mm), the overall depth should not be more than 2.64” (67 mm), the edge should not be more than 1.56” (40mm). Whereas on the weight part, there is no such standard, and players can choose based on their ability.
You may have seen the viral video of Virat Kohli customizing his bat by himself by cutting a tiny part from his bat handle with a wood saw and wondering why did he do so? The answer is simple; he wants the bat to be more comfortable while batting and it gives him the grip to place the ball where ever he wants to and strike the ball with more confidence.
The Mongoose Bat
The most unique and creative bat in the history of cricket was “the Mongoose bat”. The entire Chennai super king fans will be familiar with this bat. Matthew Hayden (Former CSK Player) was the first player to play with a mongoose bat in the 3rd edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) against Delhi daredevils in 2010. Mongoose is a short blade-long handle bat where it was fit for smashing huge boundaries in the T20 format, but a coin has two faces and the disadvantage about it was that one couldn’t play defensive shots.
So why is it not used by other players?
According to other batsmen, they could either hit the ball for a boundary or edge the ball to the slip or get caught in the short midwicket. In case of any unusual bounce or a bouncer, batsmen cannot strike the ball and they have to play a defensive stroke, there are only two options for the batsmen they could either play a defensive stroke or take the risk of getting injured. So many batsmen were not ready to take such risk and they choose normal bats to play their game.
This is some fascinating trivia on cricketing, let us know what you would want us to write about next?
