As many as 17 international cricket players from three different countries are set to play with Kashmir willow bats during the upcoming ICC Men’s ODI World Cup
For the first time ever, bats made of the legendary Kashmir willow will make an official appearance at the 50-over Cricket World Cup scheduled to be held in October in India.
Bats manufactured by GR8 Sports, a bat manufacturing company in the Sangam area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, will be used by teams such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, said Fawzal Kabeer, owner of GR8 Sports.
Besides Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the players from the UAE, West Indies and Oman also used the bat during the World Cup qualifiers held in Zimbabwe.
According to Kabeer, the demand for Kashmir willow bats, an industry on which 2 lakh people directly or indirectly earn their livelihood, surged in the global markets after the international cricket players from Oman and the UAE used them in the T20 World Cups held in the UAE and Australia in 2021 and 2022.
“The bats crafted in our industry also gained tremendous fame after UAE batter Junaid Siddiqui while using our bat hit the longest six of 109 meters during the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 against Sri Lanka in Australia.”
