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Darshil Shah: Meet the brain behind the bamboo bat
When Dr. Darshil Shah tinkered with the core of a cricket bat, he knew the traditionalists would bristle. The custodians of the game were not expected to take too kindly to his innovation of replacing the old willow with laminated bamboo.
Shah and co-author Ben Tinkler-Davies concluded in their study that the laminated bamboo bat was robust, offered a better “sweet spot,” and delivered more energy to the ball on impact.
The study was published in the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, but Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which frames the rules of the sport, deemed their prototype bat illegal. “The law would need to be altered to allow bamboo specifically, as even if it were to be recognized as a wood, this would still be illegal under the current law, which bans lamination of the blade, except in junior bats,” an MCC statement said, even as it welcomed the experiment, terming “this angle of willow alternatives as something that must be considered”.
Shah knows what the biggest hindrance is in the official acceptance of their 'invention'. "The lamination of a bamboo bat is the biggest sticking point. We knew that getting MCC to change the rules on it would be a long shot. I'm not expecting that to happen. That would be a big rule change for them," Shah told The Indian Express from London over the phone.
