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NEW DELHI: T20 cricket has changed many things about how the game is played. While strategies, shots and deliveries have evolved rapidly, some Indian players are reworking the shape of their bats.
Look carefully at the bats that pass through Hardik PandyaKL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, one can notice they have pronounced curves at the bottom. It happens to be MS Dhoni’s brainchild and the adjustment is done to help power.
TOI understands that Dhoni, who has been a mentor to Pandya and Pant, suggested them to try round-bottom bats to improve their T20 game.
“It was Dhoni who first started using this kind of bat before the 2019 World Cup. And now these Indian players have started asking for this kind of bat,” Paras Anand, managing director of leading sports equipment maker Sanspareils Greenlands (SG), told TOI.
It is very difficult to understand the nuance behind the idea, especially in a day and age when players have multiple practices to improve their distance hitting.
“These bats are specially ordered for shorter formats. The players claim that it helps them access all directions of the ground while making shots. A bat with a flat bottom gives a relatively closed stance, while the round-bottom bat allows them to have a more open stance which helps them maneuver the bat easily from the get-go,” Anand said. explain.
“If one shaves the bottom and makes it round, the bat has a thicker base and has more meat on the bottom,” Anand added.
A meatier bottom is perhaps an explanation to counter deliveries that are flung into the block hole. It is also reported that the players who have used these bats claim that they feel the pick up and the bat swing is much smoother as it replicates a baseball bat.
Pandya has struggled to grow up in the T20 format from the start since the second leg of IPL in the UAE in 2021, culminating in a poor performance in the subsequent T20 World Cup. Pandya lost his place in the Indian team for four months before making a stunning comeback while leading Gujarat Giants in their victorious IPL campaign in April-May this year.
During the break, he also reworked the shape of his bat, apart from working on his fitness to bowl at full tilt.
TOI has learned that Pant, who has also struggled to sustain the momentum in the T20s of late, approached Dhoni after the IPL.
“Dhoni told him to try the round-bottomed bat. He is slowly getting used to it. The curve on his bat is not that pronounced yet. But he can feel a difference,” said a source.
Look carefully at the bats that pass through Hardik PandyaKL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, one can notice they have pronounced curves at the bottom. It happens to be MS Dhoni’s brainchild and the adjustment is done to help power.
TOI understands that Dhoni, who has been a mentor to Pandya and Pant, suggested them to try round-bottom bats to improve their T20 game.
“It was Dhoni who first started using this kind of bat before the 2019 World Cup. And now these Indian players have started asking for this kind of bat,” Paras Anand, managing director of leading sports equipment maker Sanspareils Greenlands (SG), told TOI.
It is very difficult to understand the nuance behind the idea, especially in a day and age when players have multiple practices to improve their distance hitting.
“These bats are specially ordered for shorter formats. The players claim that it helps them access all directions of the ground while making shots. A bat with a flat bottom gives a relatively closed stance, while the round-bottom bat allows them to have a more open stance which helps them maneuver the bat easily from the get-go,” Anand said. explain.
“If one shaves the bottom and makes it round, the bat has a thicker base and has more meat on the bottom,” Anand added.
A meatier bottom is perhaps an explanation to counter deliveries that are flung into the block hole. It is also reported that the players who have used these bats claim that they feel the pick up and the bat swing is much smoother as it replicates a baseball bat.
Pandya has struggled to grow up in the T20 format from the start since the second leg of IPL in the UAE in 2021, culminating in a poor performance in the subsequent T20 World Cup. Pandya lost his place in the Indian team for four months before making a stunning comeback while leading Gujarat Giants in their victorious IPL campaign in April-May this year.
During the break, he also reworked the shape of his bat, apart from working on his fitness to bowl at full tilt.
TOI has learned that Pant, who has also struggled to sustain the momentum in the T20s of late, approached Dhoni after the IPL.
“Dhoni told him to try the round-bottomed bat. He is slowly getting used to it. The curve on his bat is not that pronounced yet. But he can feel a difference,” said a source.
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