“These bats have one major drawback — there’s no meat on them. It’s good for players who prefer to time the ball, but this version of cricket is all about force. In fact, these days players come to us with the demand of increasing the meat on the bat to 15 inches — which is not easy because the imported willow doesn’t have that much width,” Mahajan says.

The newly-developed dual-sided bat by Gray Nicholls was used by New South Wales batsman Warner, who recently signed up with Delhi Daredevils for the IPL. According to bat designer Stuart Kranzbuhler, the new bat is made on an unique method of pressing the front and back of the English willow at high pressure to ensure a strong rebound at impact.