MS Dhoni will have to swap his heavy bats for lighter ones

Dhoni has to let go of his 1250 gm bat

What’s the story?

The Marylebone Cricket Club's new Code of Laws will be implemented from October 2017 and cricketers like MS Dhoni and Chris Gayle will have to swap their heavy bats for lighter models. The new maximum permitted dimensions of a cricket bat are 108mm in width, 67mm in depth with 40mm edges.

The thickness of Dhoni’s current bat is 45 mm, which exceeds the limit in its criteria. Hence, the former Indian cricketer will have to settle for a lighter version of his willow so as to adhere to the new set of MCC guidelines. 

Australian opening batsman David Warner, as well as West Indian cricketers Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, have 50 mm thickness to their bats. Hence, the shift to a bat with new dimensions will be more difficult for them than it will be for Dhoni, considering the bigger margin of difference. 

In case you didn’t know...

From October this year, a bat gauge will be used to measure the dimensions of all the bats that cricketers will use in professional matches. MCC ruled on the bat dimensions to be changed in March this year after it received a recommendation about the same last July.

The recommendation was from MCC's World Cricket committee, which comprises of big names like Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, and Sourav Ganguly.

The details 

Kohli’s bat is lighter than Dhoni’s and weighs around 1160 gm

Indian captain Virat Kohli’s bat does not breach the rule and adheres to the new dimensions asserted by the MCC. Apart from Dhoni, all other Indian cricketers have bats that do not cross the 40 mm stipulation. KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, and Cheteshwar Pujara have bat specifications that are identical to those of the bat used by their skipper.

Dhoni will have to make the swap quickly though, considering he will roughly get just a year and a half to get used to the bat before the ICC World Cup of 2019.

What next?

The fact that this rule was made indicates to the effort from cricket bodies across the world to bring a semblance of balance between bat and ball. However, a few more changes need to be incorporated in the current rules so as to tilt the scales a little more towards the bowlers. 

The length of the boundaries can be increased, along with preparing bowler-friendly pitches for certain limited over cricket matches. 

Author’s take

Dhoni has many questions with respect to his future in international cricket, and this issue with regards to his bat dimensions is a new problem that the right-handed batsman needs to address. The man’s game is centred around his powerful bottom hand and a swing of his heavy bat.

However, he might have to bring minor changes to his core game too, considering he will be using a lighter bat now.