When it comes to the India-Pakistan series — at home or abroad — it is all about showing the mental strength, those nerves of steel, and even something more. Maybe, show some wood as well. And that’s what Rahul Dravid believes in.

The former India skipper, dropped from the team for the first two ODIs on account of poor form, has opted for a new set of bats — slightly heavier than the one he used in the recent England and Australia series.

“Yes, Dravid wanted to add some more wood, increase the weight of the bat by 40 grams and get new bats for this series in India,” Paras Anand of Sanspareils Greenlands told The Indian Express. “Dravid was using a lighter bat weighing 1140gms before, in view of the England tour because the ball comes in much faster and at a height there. But obviously he realised that these bats are not working in India and Dravid felt the need for his bat to generate more force,” said Anand, who has been manufacturing bats for Dravid since his early days.

Dravid, who was in Delhi yesterday to flag off the Delhi half-marathon and felicitate the winners, drove down to Meerut immediately after the event and spent about four hours trying to figure out what all he can experiment with — the shape and style of his bat. He personally supervised making those bats before leaving at 5 in the evening.

Interestingly, most batsmen are finicky about a particular weight of their bat and Dravid is no exception. “He’s one guy who sticks to a particular weight of the bat. Except for shifting the ‘meat’ of his bat slightly higher and lower depending on the bounce of the wickets he thinks he may encounter during the series, Dravid doesn’t fiddle with the weight of his bat. He hasn’t fiddled with the weight of his bat in the last five years,” says Anand.

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