Cricket has seen many legends, but very few are worshipped around the world like Sachin Tendulkar. In a career spanning 24 years, Tendulkar amassed 34,357 runs and scored 100 centuries, thus becoming the highest run-getter and highest century-maker in cricketing history. While spectators cheered for every run that he scored, perhaps few realised the amount of preparation that went on behind closed doors. Sachin Tendulkar’s dedication was not just limited to his practice sessions or his physical fitness. It extended deeply to his gear, especially the kind of bat he used. Tendulkar was known to be very particular with his bats, famously using a heavier willow than usual. Recently, the Master Blaster took his fans down memory lane to reveal a beautiful secret about his connection with his bats.
Taking to his social media accounts, Sachin Tendulkar posted a picture of himself carving one of his bats using a carpentry kit. In the caption, he revealed that he wanted to know exactly how his bat felt in his hands, and hence he would often bring out his own kit and carve its shape until it felt right.
“A bat was never just a piece of equipment for me. I knew how I wanted it to feel in my hands, down to the smallest detail. So I’d often bring out my carpentry kit and work on it myself, shaping and adjusting it until it felt right,” Tendulkar wrote.
“I suppose that’s why I remember those little moments so fondly. They were never really about the bat. They were about making it my own,” he added.
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Why Sachin Tendulkar used a heavy bat
Time and again, Sachin Tendulkar has publicly stated that it was his brother Ajit who encouraged him to play cricket. Thus it was his bat which he first used to play with. Since his elder brother’s bat was heavier than the usual bats that children Sachin’s age used to play with, he became comfortable with heavier bats, thus continuing this habit throughout his playing career.
“I used a pretty heavy bat and I was sometimes encouraged to move to a lighter one. Again, I did try but I never felt comfortable, as my whole bat swing depended on that weight. When I was hitting a drive, I needed the weight to generate the power. It was all to do with the timing,” Sachin Tendulkar explained in his autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’.
“To me, the bat should be an extension of your arm, and if you’ve reached the stage where it’s become an extension of your arm, why do you need to change? What mattered to me most when I was batting was feeling comfortable. As long as I felt comfortable, it didn’t matter where I was playing or who I was playing against,” the Master Blaster added.