IPL 2025: Enter bat gauge, new tool to restore parity between bat and ball

If the lifting of ban on saliva use for bowlers and the introduction of a second ball to counter the dew factor in IPL 2025 was not enough, the Indian cricket board seems to have gone a step further to ensure that batters don’t get any unfair advantage for clobbering those huge sixes. Enter the ‘bat gauge’, which is not new equipment, but is making a frequent on-the-ground appearance this IPL season.    

Only on Monday, two Kolkata Knight Riders batters — Sunil Narine and Anriche Nortje — had to change their bats before going out against Punjab Kings after the thickest portion of the blade failed to pass through the bat gauge test. TV cameras caught reserve umpire Saiyed Khalid testing the bats of both Narine and young Indian batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi before they went out to bat, with the West Indian’s bat failing to go through.

Later, KKR no. 11 Nortje’s bat was scrutinised by on-field umpires Mohit Krishnadas and Saidharshan Kumar, and the South African had to get his bat changed, though he didn’t get a chance to use it with their innings sending soon after.

Incidentally, the first two weeks of April saw several batters — including Hardik Pandya, Phil Salt and Shimron Hetmyer — having their bats checked on the field. However, none of their bats exceeded the dimensions outlined in the IPL’s official rule book, which says that the bat’s width must not exceed 4.25 inches and it must pass freely through the gauge. 

The blade of the bat must not exceed the following dimensions: Width: 4.25 in / 10.8 cm; Depth: 2.64 in / 6.7 cm; Edge: 1.56 in / 4.0 cm. Moreover, it must be able to pass through a bat gauge, the rule book says

‘’The blade of the bat must not exceed the following dimensions: Width: 4.25 in / 10.8 cm; Depth: 2.64 in / 6.7 cm; Edge: 1.56 in / 4.0 cm. Moreover, it must be able to pass through a bat gauge,’’ the rule states.

No prizes for guessing, it’s the manic hitting witnessed in the IPL — a combination of the high-risk and innovative stroke-making as well as the equipment — which has forced the technical committee’s hand to introduce on-field checking on a regular basis. While umpires would previously check the bats in the dressing room or before the match started, there is now apprehension that bats can always be changed after inspection as each professional cricketer carries a number of bats these days.

Power hitters like Abhishek Sharma have really made it a lopsided affair

While rules of the game don’t stop a batter from using a heavier bat than usual (Sachin Tendulkar, for example, preferred heavier bats), the height, width (face of the bat), depth (middle of the edge) and edge width must remain with the ICC’s prescribed limits.

IPL 2025, despite putting in checks and balances to ensure parity in the battle between bat and ball, has failed to stop the run-feasts, with teams chasing down totals in the region of 250 or almost getting there. Sunrisers Hyderabad, despite not having the best season so far, hit the highest total of a mammoth 287 while they chased down a target of 246 against Punjab Kings successfully.

The reaction from the cricketers’ fraternity had been mixed so far with Mohit Sharma, former international seamer and playing for Delhi Capitals this year, saying in jest: ‘’That’s really good, please check those bats. As it is we have been seeing such big sixes. If a bat or two are caught oversized, ban them too.’’

Nitish Rana, a former KKR captain playing for Rajasthan Royals this season, was somewhat guarded in his response: ‘’It is fair enough, we don’t have a say in that, it’s not controllable. The bats are made in the company which sponsors us, we don’t have an iissue with that. But if umpires want to check it for their satisfaction, we don’t have a problem.’’

It’s the bowlers’ community which has the right to feel more aggrieved — and the likes of Ravi Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada and Shardul Thakur have raised concerns about the increasing imbalance between bat and ball in the ongoing IPL. The Impact Player rule, which allows teams to effectively play with an extra batter or bowler, has acted as the last nail in their coffin.

‘’I think bowlers will soon need personal psychologists. I genuinely mean it,’’ Ashwin said on his own YouTube channel. South Africa’s Rabada, who left IPL midway due to personal reasons, said with a trace of sarcasm that it’s possibly time to rename cricket as just ‘batting’.

Have the umpires made a list of ‘suspect cases’ in the light of such manic bitting in some of the games? It looks more of a generic scrutiny for now, but who knows what’s in store for the game. Surely, it ain’t cricket as we know it anymore!