Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden created a new sensation, when he first introduced the ‘mongoose bat’ in the Indian Premier League (IPL), a decade ago.
The Mongoose bat comes with a long handle and a short, bottom-heavy blade, tailor made for the shortest format. Designed and manufactured by the British company Mongoose, this was one of the innovations that accompanied the inception of cricket’s shortest format, the T20. Its handle is 43 per cent longer, and the blade is one-third the size of regular blades, thus allowing for maximum attack with minimum effort.
Many experts felt that it would take a lot of time to get accustomed to the changed size and bat speed. Added the fact that it was virtually impossible to use this bat in Tests or even ODIs, the bat found few takers on the international front. This is the reason why the invention that created much ado in 2010, disappeared without noise in merely a year or two. It’s brand ambassador Matthew Hayden did not play an IPL after that year, and the bat didn’t find other volunteers willing to experiment.
In a recent chapter on CSK’s live interaction with presenter Rupha Ramani, Hayden recalled an incident when team skipper MS Dhoni was skeptical about the use of it.
“It’s hard to give perpsective on the mongoose bat. I get a lot of questions about this product. From player’s point of view, they often ask how can you use half a bat. I remember MS Dhoni saying, ‘mate, I will give you anything in life you want not to use this bat. Please do not use this bat’,” Hayden revealed.
Hayden, however, then assured his captain that he’s confident about the striking power of the bat and had done his homework pretty well.
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