Team India are having a great time in the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia. While the Men in Blue registered a nail-biting four-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in their tournament opener, they thrashed Netherlands by 56 runs in their second fixture.

Having earned four points from two games, the Rohit Sharma-led side is considered as firm favourites to qualify for the semi-final from Group 2.

Apart from the strategies from their last year’s disastrous campaign in UAE, Indian players also seem to have changed their tools for theT20 World Cup Down Under.

As per a TOI report, the likes of Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant are using bats with pronounced curves at the bottom.

The report also claims that former India skipper MS Dhoni had suggested them to try round-bottomed bats to improve power-hitting.

“It was Dhoni who had first started using this kind of bat before the 2019 World Cup. And now these Indian players have started asking for this kind of bat,” Paras Anand, managing director of leading sports equipment manufacturer Sanspareils Greenlands (SG), told TOI.

“These bats are ordered specially for shorter formats. The players claim that it helps them access all directions of the ground while shot-making. A bat with a flat bottom prompts a relatively closed stance whereas the round-bottomed bat enables them to have a more open stance that helps them to manoeuvre the bat easily from the word go,” he added.

“If one shaves the bottom and makes it round, the bat has a thicker base and has more meat at the bottom,” Anand further said.

According to TOI, Rishabh Pant, who is yet to make a mark in the shortest format for India, had sought Dhoni's help after the IPL this year.

“Dhoni told him to try the round-bottomed bat. He is slowly getting used to it. The curve on his bat is not as pronounced yet. But he can feel some difference,” TOI quoted a source as saying.

India will face South Africa in their next Super 12 match at Perth on Sunday (October 30).

(With TOI inputs)