The Right Stuff?

Yet the significance of using each hand judiciously escapes even someone like Ambati Rayudu, one of India8217;s brightest hopes for the future. He knows the weight of his bat to the last gram 1150 gm but ask him whether he8217;s a top-handed or bottom-handed player and he gives a metaphorical shrug of the shoulders. 8216;8216;I don8217;t know, actually8217;8217;, he says, implying, What8217;s the big deal?

It is, of course a big deal, as Sharma8217;s study 8212; based on a stint at the NCA in Bangalore, where he noticed that the basic technique of the trainees left a lot to be desired 8212; notes. It deals with the two main aspects of cricket.

THE BAT
There are many advantages of using heavy bats, such as hitting the ball harder and getting more runs with nudges, pushes and checked drives. 8216;8216;But the forearms of Indian batsmen are weaker than those from Australia, South Africa and the West Indies8217;8217;, Sharma says. 8216;8216;Indians have always been supple players and have relied on technique more than brute strength.8217;8217;

But the pros probably outweighed the cons:

8226; Batsmen lift the bat with the bottom hand, locking both hands
8226; Batsmen don8217;t get enough backlift and no follow through. This was restricting their footwork
8226; Playing on the off-side, the back lift is either from gully or coming down straight, never inside out; so most play across the line and close the face of the bat
8226; Bottom-hand domination means batsmen push at the ball and get caught at cover or mid-off when defending
8226; Players are unable to play a forcing back foot shot to either spinners or the medium pacers

Sharma got new bats made and the result was they saw 14-year-olds pull, lift their bats and play the square cuts well.

THE BALL
Spinners in the U-15 and U-17 age group, Sharma said, should bowl with a 8216;8216;youth ball8217;8217; which weighs the normal 5.5 oz but has a smaller circumference 8212; a couple of cm, less than the normal 23 cm 8212; so the small hands can grasp the ball with their fingers and impart good spin.

8216;8216;Playing with the full size ball will help the youngster achieve a certain level of control on line and length but he will struggle to impart wrist spin as he won8217;t be able to cock his wrist.8217;8217;

8216;8216;We saw them turn the ball by nine inches to a foot with the youth ball8217;8217;, says Sharma.

After evaluating the experiment, Bishen Singh Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna were of the view that the youngsters would be able to spin and turn the ball much better with greater effect. And it8217;s not that much smaller to affect thet youngsters8217; graduation to the full-sized ball.

For seamers, Sharma used two-tone balls 8212; half red and half white 8212; so the bowlers could observe the revolutions and the swing as well as check their release.

The Reality Heavy Is Cool

Do children find heavy bats a problem? Sidharth Monga spent two days at the academies of Delhi to find the answer. Here8217;s what he found

A few years down the line, India may have a profusion of Shahid Afridis. Why? Because, like the explosive Pathan, who walks out to the crease with whichever bat is at hand, they don8217;t know 8212; don8217;t really care, either 8212; how heavy their bat is, or how heavy it should be.

They just use a bat because it feels good. Even heavy bats, though a few did complain of aches, and one child has felt better since switching to a lighter bat. While Sharma recommends a maximum of 1150 grams bat weight for adults, one can see 16-year-olds using bats ranging between 1100 and 1200. The only visible innovation to reduce the use of the bottom hand is a grip six inches smaller than the usual one, so that the kids do not go really low on the handle.

The first line of resistance is the coaches, who dismiss Sharma8217;s readings and believe bat weights cannot be classified into watertight compartments. 8216;8216;More than age, it8217;s their physical strength, their natural instincts and their forearms that determine bat weight. There is something called natural flair and you cannot kill it by asking kids to use different bats8217;8217;, says Ramesh Chopra, SAI coach at the National Stadium.

8216;8216;Children at the same age can be differently built so I don8217;t go by age. I would not go strictly by weight either but if I see somebody having trouble because of a heavy bat, I get him an appropriate one8217;8217;, says former India batsman Gursharan Singh, now a coach in South Delhi.

Generally, the personal focus is on the few good ones, and they are tipped off on the right weights. For others, the bats are decided by economics, habit and ignorance. Heavier bats are cheaper 8212; they are made from Kashmir willow, which costs less than the lighter English willow 8212; and last longer, and they are the first ones the shopkeeper will offer the parents who buy the bats. And no one really knows the weight theory.

One who does is 15-year-old Vidur Sethi. He developed back problems so he switched to a 8216;8216;lighter8217;8217; bat 8212; weighing 1200 grams without cover! Yet he8217;s not happy; he ends up chipping the ball with a lighter bat.

Anshul Gupta 16, widely considered Delhi8217;s most promising batsman, uses an 1100-gram bat and says he does not have any trouble with the weight. Rajat Gupta, another Delhi player, agrees most of the players do not know how heavy their bats are and would not know if they are playing with bats that are heavier than what should be.

Another reason is, of course, the T factor: Sachin Tendulkar is the most famous exponent of heavy-bat cricket, and we all know how young he was when he started. 8216;8216;Nowadays, nobody wants to take a bat which looks thin8217;8217;, says Ajit Menon, who manufactures bats for Tendulkar.

All will be forgiven, of course, if they turn out like Tendulkar8230;