MS Dhoni's Bat: The story of its curved-bottom and the man behind it
Cricket has been one of the most popular games in the world. Cricket is a game revolving around the bat and ball. Bat and ball are supposed to be the rudiments of the game. While the bowlers are tasked with the match ball to attack, the batsmen have a personal connection with their bats.
For any batsman in the world, a lot depends on the material of the bat, its length, width, weight and the balance all of it provides.
The overall weight of the bat remains the priority in any of the bats. Some cricket bat manufacturers insert additional carbon fibre into the handle of the cricket bat to make the bat feel lighter in the hands. The insertion of carbon fibre also allows more power to be generated in shots and increases the shock absorption in the handle from high impact balls.
One question that always arises in our mind is: "How heavy are the cricket bats used by MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli?" or say "With whom do the professional players get their cricket bats repaired?"
Thus, in this article, we will look into the story behind MS Dhoni's curved-bottom shaped bat and exact the weight of the bats that are used by MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. So here is a small story relating to it.
It dates back to 2017 when India was playing England in the 1st ODI of the 3-match series that started off in Pune. Prior to 1st ODI, Virat Kohli had called a bat-repairer named Mahesh Ransubhe, also known as Chintu, to repair his bat. Kohli had called Chintu to cut short his bat's handle. Kohli liked Chintu's work so much that he suggested MS Dhoni, who also wanted to get his bat repaired, also use his services.
Mahesh is the one who gave that curved-bottom look to Dhoni's bat. Mahesh revealed that Dhoni wanted that curved-bottom in order to keep his bat safe from the fast yorkers that directly hit the bottom of the bat which could result in its grain-cracking.
Mahesh, a.k.a Chintu also revealed the approximate weights of Virat and MS' cricket bats. He said that Dhoni's bat weighed around 1250-1270 grams while Kohli's bat weighed around 1150 grams.
Apart from Kohli and Dhoni, Ransubhe has had also the privilege of repairing bats of some of the biggest names in cricket which includes the likes of English all-rounder Ben Stokes, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kedar Jadhav.
Mahesh does not charge a single penny for repairing the bats of Indian cricketers which completely depicts the attachment he has with cricket and why he chose this profession.