For any batter, his or her piece of willow holds a special place in their life. And why not? It is one of the tools 🃏of their trade.
There 𝓡are cricketers like Steve Smith, Sachin Tendulkar and many others who are pretty meticulous about the dimensions and weight of thei🍌r willow.
But Indian international, Manish Pandey, has taken his love for his bats to another level, by tagging them as his ‘girlfriends’.
“In many ways, my bat is like a girlfriend, especially when I’m playing my matches and my actual girlfriend [now wife] isn’t around,” Manish said during the latest episode of Spicy Pitch.
“I even end up having ‘fights’ with my bat. I tell my bat that it has changed when I start to edge balls and it replies right back, ‘I think it’s you who’s changed!’,” Pandey suggested in a jovial manner.
Pandey belonged to the same U19 class of 2008 which won the World Cup as Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja.
The trio also w🌌ent on to have successful international careers donning the Indian colours. As a matter of fact, Pandey was the first Indian to score an IPL ton, which came in Centurion back in 2009.
“I have 5 girlfriends in my bag — each of them is special for different occasions. For example, the bat with which I scored my IPL century is what I call my ‘shadow’ bat. I use it whenever I need a confidence booster or to prep for a big moment,” added the Karnataka stalwart.
Cricketers are often known to have their own set of𒆙 superstitions, like putting their left pad first, or carrying ♎a red handkerchief, and so on.
Even Manish opened up on his superstition, saying, “I don’t know of any cricketer who doesn’t have superstitions. For me, if I play an exceptional inning with one bat, I tend to keep using it. It almost becomes like a good luck charm.”
“For me, a bat getting destroyed in a game hurts just as bad as losing my wicket. When the bat gets chipped or cracked, I feel like I’ve injured myself,” concluded Manish.
Manish Pandey got married to actress Ashrita Shetty in Mumbai on December 2 last year – just a day after he led Karnataka to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title.
