We hope MS Dhoni uses the coloured bat, says Spartan

Andre Russell wielding the coloured bat

Bat manufacturers Spartan has said that they would love to see MS Dhoni use the coloured bat. This piece of equipment has been in the news recently as West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell walked out with it during a Big Bash League encounter.

However, this radical move did not go down well with the administrators who found the bat breaching a number of basic rules of the game. According to the stated rules, a cricket bat cannot leave any imprint on the ball and discolour it.

Apparently, the bat used by Russell did not adhere to these rules and thus had to be shunted out of the game. However, the manufacturing company has since made few tweaks in the varnish used. All these modifications were made at the Spartan headquarters, where an Extratec coating was applied on the bat, which would prevent the ball from any damage.

Dhoni is also the brand ambassador of Spartan, and thus the manufacturing giant is hopeful that the Indian captain would soon use the coloured willow.

“Dhoni is more than welcome to use a coloured bat (in IPL). He is such an amazing role model, influential cricketer and kids look up to him,” Cameron Merchant, the cricket manager at the Spartan Sports, was as quoted by the Deccan Chronicle.

Cameron is hopeful that India's limited overs skipper would walk out with this modified tool during the upcoming Indian Premier League.

"Aiden Blizzard (Sydney Thunder) has used a green coloured bat whereas Mitch Johnson (Perth Scorchers) has used orange bat," Merchant said.

"The coloured bat is allowed in T20 franchise competitions around the world. Cricket Australia have allowed it with the colours to be the same majority as clubs, i.e Sydney Thunder are black and green so we can have either a full green bat or black bat," he further added.

"Spartan Sports originally came up with the idea with Chris Gayle with the original coloured bat of the Golden bat in last years' BBL," he added. 

Apart from Dhoni, Spartan also has bat contracts with England ODI captain Eoin Morgan, former Australian captain Michael Clarke and West Indies legend Chris Gayle.

Also, former great Sir Viv Richards and Sri Lanka's woman cricketer Sripali Weerakkody uses bats sponsored by Spartan.