Hayden introduced the Mongoose bat in Indian Premier League 2010.
Ex-Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batsman Matthew Hayden had come up with a newly designed bat in Indian Premier League (IPL) which grabbed attention around a decade back.
The name 'mongoose' was as fascinating as the design of the bat. The handle of the bat was 43% longer than usual, and the blade 33% shorter. Although the overall size is still under the law of cricket.
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Hayden played with the bat in IPL 2010. But, as revealed by the man himself in a recent interaction with CSK social media, his captain MS Dhoni wasn't a big fan of the innovative bat.
“I’ll (Dhoni) give you anything you want in life, to not use this bat! Please do not use this bat,” Hayden told presenter Rupha Ramani.
The bat was designed to boost attacking shots and Hayden utilized it pretty well. “I’ve been using this bat for practice for about a year and a half and when it hits the middle of the bat it goes 20 meters further."
“I wasn’t going to put my franchise on risk by performing badly because of the bat. I had done my homework.”
“It was a courageous decision to use it and believed it was going to make my game better. On a couple of occasions, I used it, I loved it, it was fun,” he said.
Hayden's teammate Suresh Raina had called the bat good for attacking but not to play defensive shots. “It is good for big-hitting but surely not for defending. That is the reason I reverted back to the traditional bat,” said Raina in 2012 after trying out the weapon for few games and failing.