What happened to Mongoose bats?

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The long handle-short blade Mongoose bat that was made famous in the third season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) by Australian legend Matthew Hayden has withered away.

The bat, specially designed for the shortest format of the game by British company Mongoose, was one of the innovations of Twenty20 cricket. It made its debut in IPL with Matthew Hayden in the third season of the IPL in 2010 and many believed it would revolutionise the game.

Hayden, playing for Chennai Super Kings, took the cricket world by storm when he used the bat for the first time in an IPL match against Delhi Daredevils in the third season.

The retired Australian smashed 93 off 43 balls, hitting nine fours and seven sixes. The bat was meant only for attack and Hayden did certainly that.

Suresh Raina, Hayden's team mate in Super Kings, also used the bat in the IPL without much success before reverting back to the traditional bat.

But two yeas since making its debut in the IPL that bat simply has vanished from the scene as batsmen have finally realised that Twenty20 is not just all about smacking the ball.

Raina had told IANS that it was very difficult to play defensive strokes with the bat. "It is good for big hitting but surely not for defending. That is the reason I reverted back to the traditional bat," said Raina.

The long handle of the bat allowed the batsman to get the elevation and its stout frame made sure that even miss-hits fly over the boundary.

The bat had a 5 cm thick base, a handle 43 percent longer and a blade 33 percent shorter. It had no splice and the sweet spot was enhanced by a whopping 120 percent, making it ideal for Twenty20, but not for long.