Delhi-based IIT engineer, Vivek Lakhotia has made a bat from aeronautical grade aluminium that aims to replace the wooden cricket bat. Lakhotia’s bats, branded Wow, can be used both for tennis and hardball cricket.
Meant initially for enthusiastic amateurs, the IIT-Roorkee alumnus says, “There are over 25 crore children and adults in India alone who patronise the game of cricket in an informal way — officially, there are over 5000 tournaments of tennis ball cricket that are played each year. If these cricket-patronising children continue to play cricket with wooden bats, it would soon lead to the degeneration of forests.”
When former India cricketer Chetan Sharma heard about the aluminium bat, he wasn’t sure of how it would work out. “But then seeing is believing,” he says now adding, “I am pleased with the finished product. Cricket coaches should try to introduce these bats in their academies so that young cricketers not only use them, but also do their bit in saving the environment.”
The bat is priced economically (from Rs 500 onwards), weighs less than the wooden bat, and has a life span that is five times greater than its wooden counterpart.