‘Smart Bat’ may become smash hit with players

With India’s willow power looking like fading fast, a ‘smart bat’ could provide them the much-needed relief. Precisely at the time when Indian batsmen were failing miserably at the World Cup, an Indian brain was fast at work at the RMIT University in Melbourne, devising newer methods in bringing technological innovations to the game.

With India’s willow power looking like fading fast, a ‘smart bat’ could provide them the much-needed relief. Precisely at the time when Indian batsmen were failing miserably at the World Cup, an Indian brain was fast at work at the RMIT University in Melbourne, devising newer methods in bringing technological innovations to the game.

Sabu John, an Indian settled in Australia and currently an associate professor in aerospace mechanics and manufacturing engineering is the brain behind the development of a cricket bat with active vibration control. The bat, fitted with electro-mechanical sensors which reduce reverberation up to 42 per cent, could be out in the market soon.

Much like the way Indian cricketers have felt hounded by the media, John, too, has been busy giving interviews ever since his technological innovation was made public. “There is just too much media pressure to talk about. Please understand,” he says, before offering his comments.

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The bat, to put it simply, would “enable the players to strike the ball without any strain or injury and would contain carbon fibre shell — often used in tennis and squash racquets — that would perfunctorily add force to the bat hitting the ball,” explains John.

Speaking to The Indian Express from Melbourne, where he lectures on science engineering and technology at the RMIT University, John says, “The reduction in vibration has mostly got to do with the design and the material and the transducers used in the making of the bat handle. The material will alter the dynamic response of the bat. A classic example would be that of Tendulkar’s tennis elbow — that caused the batsmen immense strain — who would find immense relief in using it.”

John calls it “the zinging effect” and is quick to remind us of the troubles that Tendulkar had to go through during his injuries. “For a batsman of his stature, the tennis elbow and the back injury weren’t doing him any good because of the bat that he uses — heavy and vibrating while playing the shot. This new bat, with a high-tech handle with the use of electro-mechanical material, known as Piezo-electric, sensors and actuators would accentuate vibrations,” he says.

“Chris Gayle, Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Kevin Pietersen and our very own Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Tendulkar are few among the many modern-day cricketers who’ve been enlightened about the ‘Smart Bat’,” he says. “These batsmen have the power and if the bat can provide them the comfort, hitting the ball will become more effective,” John says.

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John explains that this particular patented technology wouldn’t just be aiming at reducing strain. The innovation in the handle, he says, “would also account for the widening of the sweet spot on the bat. The blade will remain untouched and will still be wood but it would make the batsman feel slightly better and comfortable when the ball hits the extended area of the sweet spot.”

The bat is priced at Rs 20,400, calculated by the professor himself who says that it is the effort and the technological innovation that has hiked the cost. “The bat is being developed with the help of manufacturers Kookaburra Sport and could be on sale within the coming year,” says John.