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Kids take to heavy bats

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

TIPS FOR SUCCESS: Abdul Jabbar passes on his knowledge to a young player.

KOCHI: It’s probably an effect of the slam-bang Indian Premier League. Kids in Kochi are turning up with heavy bats these days. The goal is just to go for big hits.

“Boys here tend to use heavy bats,” said the seasoned Chennai coach Abdul Jabbar during the Muthoot-Ernakulam Cricket Club summer camp here. “Young boys should be using light bats, say something from 900gms to 1.5kg but here I notice kids using bats weighing between 1.5kg to 2.5kg.”

Heavy bats not only lead to problems in technique, they could also produce injuries, felt the former Tamil Nadu Ranji and South Zone star.

“You start to use the bottom-hand too much with heavy bats. This leads to a lot of technique deficiencies. You need to have proper technique first, without technique you cannot improvise,” says the 56-year-old. “Heavy bats could also lead to ‘tennis elbow’ and back problems.”

P. Sivakumar, one of the first men to spot the talent in Indian star S. Sreesanth, says young cricketers use heavy bats because they want to hit the ball a long way. “They all want to be big hitters. Also, light bats are not available in the market,” said Sivakumar.

Abdul Jabbar, who runs a cricket academy in Chennai, has a special place in Kerala cricket. He was the coach who guided Kerala to the Ranji Trophy’s knockout stage for the first time in the early nineties. He coaxed the boys to shed their inhibitions, to think big. That worked wonders.

“That was a good batch, I think it’s better than today’s team,” says Jabbar. “Now, your fast bowlers are much better than your spinners. But those days, the spinners were much better…Sunil Kumar, Ramprakash and Ananthapadmanabhan.”

Sadly, not many are eager to take up spin bowling these days. After the success of Tinu Yohanan and Sreesanth, every bowler in Kerala wants to be a fast bowler. “The boys here are very athletic, I see a lot of talent,” he said. “They are quick through the air …but they need to be taller …Sreesanth and Tinu are tall,” said Jabbar.

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