Mumbai: A cricket bat is one thing, a guitar something else.
But what do you get when you combine the two? Something known as a “Bat-ar”.
One may not find the word in any dictionary, but Indian cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar came up with this unique gift for the country’s star woman cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues who has a passion for both the bat and the guitar.
After Jemimah’s match-winning 127* against Australia in the ICC Women’s World Cup semi-final match, Gavaskar had said that he would go in for a sing-along session with her if India lifted the trophy.
India did win the championship and Gavaskar kept his word. Not only did he join Jemimah for a jamming session, he brought along the unique gift for her – a guitar designed as a bat.
In a video shared by Jemimah on social media, the two are seen greeting each other, before Gavaskar gifts her the “Bat-ar”.
Jemimah and Gavaskar, both of them from Mumbai, then went on to sing along with each other. Jemimah was strumming the bat-shaped guitar while singing, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The moment came on the eve of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) that got going on Friday.
This will be a major tournament for Jemimah, who takes over as captain of the Delhi Capitals (DC). She will be stepping into the rather large shoes of former captain Meg Lanning.
Jemimah has been playing for DC for three seasons now under Lanning’s leadership. The latter is considered one of the most tactically astute leaders in the game, as the franchise reached the final of each of the first three editions of the tournament, but failed to get over the line.
Jemimah will hope to use the influence Lanning provided to have a good start to her own captaincy career, as she leads the franchise into a new year in the tournament with an opening match against Harmanpreet Kaur’s defending champions, the Mumbai Indians.
