'Mongoose bat made for Indian conditions'

A couple of Indian cricketers are ready to try out the Mongoose MMI3 bat.

In fact, one of them may even wield it in the Twenty20 World Cup later this month, claims its manufacturer.

Marcus Codrington Fernandez, inventor of the Twenty20 special model -- launched by Australia's Matthew Hayden in the ongoing Indian Premier League -- did not disclose the identity of the Indian players wanting to try out the bat with a 33 per cent shorter blade, but insisted interest for it is picking up.

"So far we have received good response from the Indians. Some players have already expressed interest and we want at least one Indian to play with the Mongoose bat in the forthcoming Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies," Fernandez said.

The Londoner insisted the bottom-heavy bat is tailor-made for the sub-continent, where the ball often doesn't come on to the bat as much as stroke-players prefer.

"I think this is a bat made for India and Indian conditions. Nobody has the passion for Twenty20 cricket like the Indians have and IPL is by far the most exciting tournament," he said.

"We have recently launched the bat in the Indian market and I believe that the Mongoose will be very successful on the Indian pitches, where ball comes to the bat slowly and batsmen have to hit hard to make a big shot," he explained.

The piece of wood should prove equally handy for the wristy players, he claimed.

"The 43 per cent longer handle increases the head-speed of the bat and brings about some natural swing as well. So it will

also help the wristy batsmen to send the deliveries across the rope with more ease," elaborated Fernandez.

Fernandez said initially 100-odd bats were launched in 25 major cities in the country, with the average price Rs 6000, and there are plans to bring more products later this year.

Fernandez, who conceptualised the bat three years ago, strongly feels that the game is changing rapidly with time and it demands innovation.

"Cricket is changing very fast with time and we have to catch up with that. The game has become much faster today; batsmen like (Virender) Sehwag, Hayden and Gilly (Adam Gilchrist) have introduced new styles of attacking batting," said Marcus, himself a club-level all-rounder.

"Even in Test matches also the teams are opting for attacking strategies to quickly pile up runs and give bowlers more time to bundle out the opponent. This new bat tells the batsmen 'come, you have to attack', thus making the game more

attractive," he added.

Fernandez was also happy that the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodian of the game's laws, has also found the bat "within the spirit of the game".

"MCC has approved the bat at the same meeting in which they gave nod to (Kevin) Pietersen's switch hit. I initially

thought that the MCC may raise objection about the bat but at the end of the day it didn't happen.

"The bat underwent several tests in Imperial College of Biomechanical Engineering for three months and the specialists found nothing wrong it the bat," he said.