Christchurch: Team India have a worry on hand ahead of the first Twenty20 one-day international in Christchurch - players are finding their bats too heavy to "swing freely" in the windy conditions prevalent in Christchurch.
Most Indian batsmen, including maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and southpaw Yuvraj Singh, are worried about the weight of their customary bats in unusual conditions in Christchurch.
This southern island city of New Zealand has the reputation of being the second windiest city of the country - behind Wellington - and is confronting the visitors with a problem of its own.
The swirling wind is making the visitors either play too early or too late at deliveries in the nets. The weight of their bats is not helping the matter.
Tendulkar has confessed that with the wind behind him, he tends to play too early at the ball; and when the wind is blowing into him, he finds himself pinned back.
Consequently, the Indian batters are busy scaling down the weight of their bats in order to be battle ready in the difficult, seaming conditions of New Zealand.
They are using a machine with an inbuilt sandpaper - a far cry from the days when a batsman used to rub sandpaper personally for hours to bring down the weight of his bat to his requirement.
But it remains to be seen if the scaling down of the bats would help the batsmen find the right rhythm and "swing" in the middle.
