Matthew Hayden with the mongoose bat
Almost a decade ago, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden, had popularised what was called the 'mongoose bat'. The long handle of the bat reduced the striking surface, leaving much of the work on the bottom hand to strike the ball.
On Friday, in conversation with Chennai Super Kings, Hayden recalled the moment on how the former Indian captain had reacted on seeing the bat.
Hayden said that Dhoni had told him not to use the bat. “I’ll (Dhoni) give you anything you want in life, to not use this bat! Please do not use this bat,” Hayden said.
But Hayden assured his captain that he was well versed with the use of the bat and that he could utilise it well to strike the ball powerfully.
“I’ve been using this bat for practice for about a year and a half and when it hits the middle of the bat it goes 20 metres further,” the left-handed batsman further said in the video.
“I wasn’t going to put my franchise on risk by performing badly because of the bat. I had done my homework.”
“It was a courageous decision to use it and believed it was going to make my game better. On a couple of occasions, I used it, I loved it, it was fun,” the Aussie great added.
Hayden played only three IPL seasons, between 2008 and 2010 for Chennai Super Kings, scoring 1107 runs in 32 games at 36.90.
