Cricket these days is a batsman dominated sport. A batsman’s weapon of destruction is nothing but a piece of wood, we call bat. Now different batsmen use different bat’s depending on their game and abilities. In today’s article we will discuss five cricketers who used the heaviest bats of all time in international cricket.
The first name in the list is of the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. His bats had a thick profile with massive edges and were also heavily arced. The Little Master was without a bat contract until the beginning of the 1996 Cricket World Cup and at the end of the tournament, famous tyre manufacturers MRF sponsored his willow. His 1.47kg bat, which was his partner in crime was sold for a massive ₹42 lakh at a famous sports auction in 2010.
The second name in the list is of Chris Gayle. The Jamaican batsman is one of those cricketers, show loves to smash the ball over the boundaries. He literally toys with the bowlers on any given day as he has the capability to demolish any bowling attack with his Spartan CG Bat. Designed to handle Gayle’s explosive power and brute force, the CG was perfectly suited for the modern limited-overs game. It had a thick edge, a massive sweet spot and was handcrafted to Gayle’s liking and weighed a massive 1.36 kg’s which makes it one of the heaviest ever to be used.
The third name in the list is of Lance Klusener. Both Lance and his monstrosity of a bat are nicknamed SS Zulu. The heaviest bat on this list, SS Zulu might also have been arguably the heaviest bat used by any player in the history of cricket which weighed a total of 1.53kg. The bat had a short handle and a massive face, and a three-inch blade, made other bats look tiny. He switched to this bat and a couple of games into the change, he blasted 174 against England in a Test match in 1999 making a mockery of Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough.
The fourth name in the list is of Virender Sehwag. Legendary opener Sehwag’s bat had been named after his immortal innings of 319. His bat weighed as much as 1.35 kilograms. He has demolished many bowling attacks or various teams during his prime and the bat has taken quite some beating. Be it the trademark cut to get off the mark on the very first ball or the elegant but lazy cover drive to bring up a milestone, the ball wasted no time in reaching the boundary ropes after a clash with the right hander’s willow.
The fifth and the last name in the list is of modern day cricketer David Warner. Warner has earned a lot of respect when it power-packed batting and fielding, especially in limited overs cricket. Despite having a tiny frame, Warner used to carry a bat that weighed 1.24 kilograms. The sweet spot of his bat is not as big as the one on Gayle’s bat, but is as dominating as the West Indians. The ideal weight offers him the balance to dominate both sides of the pitch with relative ease.
