New Delhi. To achieve success, a person tries all kinds of tricks. If we talk about cricket, then in a situation of ‘drought’ of runs or on special occasions, some batsmen have come on the field with the bat of a fellow player. Apart from this, on some occasions, the circumstances were such that the batsman had to borrow the bat from his teammate. It is a coincidence that coming on the field with a partner’s bat has proved lucky for some batsmen and they have been successful in scoring good runs with the ‘other’s’ bat. Last month, Abhishek Sharma’s name has been included in the list of players who have come on the field with a partner’s bat in international cricket. Abhishek, one of the talented young batsmen of Team India, made his international debut in the three-match T20 series against Zimbabwe and had to return to the pavilion without opening his account in the first match. In the second match, he borrowed the bat from his Under-19 World Cup 2018 champion Indian team colleague Shubman Gill and managed to score a stormy century in 46 balls. This was the third fastest century by an Indian in the T20 format.
After the match, Abhishek revealed that he used captain Gill’s bat for this century. He has been doing this before as well. Abhishek said, “I played with Shubman’s bat. Whenever I need runs, I ask for his bat. However, it is not easy to get the bat from him.” Before Abhishek, some other players in international cricket have also made runs and records by using fellow players’ bats, including India’s Mohinder Amarnath, Shikhar Dhawan, Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and Andy Sandham, who played for England in the 1930s.
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He scored a triple century in the 1930 Test series by taking the bat from the captain
Andy Sandham, who played 14 Tests for England from 1921 to 1930, scored 879 runs with the help of two centuries and an average of 38.21, including a triple century. Sandham scored this triple century in the last Test of his career with a ‘borrowed bat’. He had to borrow this bat out of compulsion. Actually, during the England-West Indies series of 1930, Sandham sold all his ‘extra’ bats and kept only one good bat with him. This bat broke before the last Test of the series. Sandham was compelled to ask for a bat from his captain Freddie Calthorpe. Sandham used to use a short-handled bat but the captain’s bat had a very long handle.
Coincidentally, with this bat itself, Sandham scored 325 runs (28 fours) at the age of 40, which was the first triple century in Test cricket at that time. He also scored 50 runs in the second innings of this Test match held in Kingston in April 1930. This record made by Sandham was broken a few months later by Australia’s Don Bradman by playing an innings of 334 runs against England in July 1930.
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Compton played an innings of 158 runs with a borrowed bat
In 1955, during the home Test series against South Africa, England’s Denis Compton was forced to borrow a bat from his teammate. Chief selector Gabby Allen and captain May had asked all the players to report to the nets at 3 pm a day before. Compton was spending time with his family on the beach in Sussex, he felt that he would not be able to reach on time. In such a situation, he immediately sought help from his friend and requested him to drop him to Old Trafford by helicopter. In a hurry, he had not even taken his cricket kit with him. But Compton’s luck was bad. Due to bad weather, the helicopter had to land in Derby. He reached Old Trafford at night and apologized to the captain-chief selector. Since he had reached the ground without kit, he borrowed a bat from fellow all-rounder Fred Titmus and came on the field after England lost wickets at 22 runs and scored 158 runs with this bat.
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Mohinder had scored a lot of runs with Sandeep Patil’s bat
A bat of fellow batsman Sandeep Patil proved to be very lucky for Mohinder Amarnath, the vice-captain of the 1983 World Cup champion Indian team. This bat was gifted to him by Patil. Mohinder, popularly known as ‘Jimmy’, scored 584 runs with this bat in the 1982-83 series in Pakistan and then 598 runs in the series in West Indies. He also became the player of the match in the semi-final and final of the 1983 World Cup. Coincidentally, this bat was stolen and his bad phase began. He flopped badly in the home series against Pakistan and West Indies.
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Sachin gave the bat to Waqar, with this Afridi made a world record
In the 1990s, Sachin Tendulkar sent one of his bats to fast bowler Waqar Younis and requested him to get a similar bat made from Sialkot. The Pakistani city of Sialkot is famous for cricket equipment. This bat given by Sachin to Waqar later became the medium of a big record for Shahid Afridi. With this bat, Afridi scored a century in just 37 balls in the match against Sri Lanka, which was the fastest century in ODI history at that time.
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‘Gabbar’ had scored a century on his Test debut using Murali Vijay’s bat
Left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan made his Test debut against Australia in 2013. He scored a brilliant century (187 runs) in his debut Test in Mohali. Interestingly, the bat with which Dhawan played this innings belonged to fellow opener Murali Vijay. Along with Dhawan, Murali Vijay (153 runs) also scored a century in this Test and there was a partnership of 289 runs between the two. Popular as ‘Gabbar’ among fellow players, Dhawan liked this bat so much that he played with it in the 2013 Champions Trophy and scored two ODI centuries. Dhawan was the top scorer of this tournament and also the Player of the Tournament. Vijay’s bat also had a special contribution in his success.
Similarly, in the match against Afghanistan in Asia Cup 2022, the bat with which Naseem Shah hit sixes on the first two balls of the last over to give Pakistan victory belonged to fellow bowler Mohammad Hasnain. Hasnain was batting with Naseem during this innings. The next day of the match, he gifted this bat to Naseem Shah. Naseem gave this bat for auction to provide financial help to the flood victims of Pakistan.
Abhishek Sharma, naseem shah, shahid afridi, Shikhar Dhawan, Test cricket
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 5, 2024, 12:04 IST