David Warner set to use heavier bats during India tour
What's the news?
Australian batsman David Warner had one of his most remarkable calendar years in 2016 garnering success in Tests as well as ODIs. However, looking forward to 2017, Warner knows that he will have one of the biggest challenges on hand when Australia tour India. After having a rather miserable time in the middle during his last adventure in India, Warner has decided to use heavier bats during the Tests on the upcoming to counter the conditions in the subcontinent.
In case you didn’t know...
The last time Aussies toured India they lost 0-4, and if they have any chance to make it better this time around, David Warner has to play a big part in it. The southpaw amassed 748 runs in 2016 from the 11 Tests he featured in, including 2 centuries at an average of 41.55.
However, his record in India doesn’t make for good reading. In 2013, he struggled like most Australian batsman – ending up with an average of 24.37 in the four tests.
In the recently concluded Test series against Pakistan, he scored two centuries and would be eager to continue his sublime form in the subcontinent too. For the record, Waner is quite familiar to the pitches in India, as he has been a part of the Indian Premier League for so many years and even led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to the title last year.
Heart of the matter
As per the reports of the Sydney Morning Herald, the southpaw will lower the sweet spot of his bat by using a heavier blade to cope with the less bouncy tracks of the subcontinent. A heavier bat will slow Warner’s swing, giving him greater control on slow pitches where spin is expected from the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
The blade which he uses in Australia is Gray Nicole’s Kaboom, which weighs 1.23 kilogrammes but is expected to use a bat which weighs 1.28 kilogrammes during Australia’s tour to India later this year.
Sportskeedas take
The team from Down Under is scheduled to play 4 Test matches starting from February 23, the probable venues for them being Pune, Bangalore, Ranchi and Dharamsala.
India has been phenomenal in at home this season, having won 7 out the 8 Test matches played. India would want to maintain their winning streak while the visitors will give the best to make a mark in India, where they are yet to win since 2004/05.