Kashmir's willow cricket bats go international

Bat importers from nine cricket-playing nations place orders with local manufacturers

In a huge boost to the Valley’s bat manufacturing industry, nine international teams have agreed to use Kashmir's famous willow bats in upcoming tournaments.

Since 1947, millions of willow bats have been made in Kashmir. But none could make it to the international market till last year, when Omani players Bilal Khan and Naseem Khushi, used Kashmiri willow bats in the T20 World Cup.

According to local bat manufacturing unit holders, importers from around nine cricket playing nations have placed orders. They say Kashmiri bats will feature this year in the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup which will be played in Australia.

“Afghanistan, Bangladesh, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark and New Zealand have agreed to use Kashmir willow bats,” Fawzul Kabir, owner of Gr8 sports said.

He said the bat manufacturers in the Valley were excited that their product was now meeting international standards,” Kabir said and added his company has signed an agreement with six Afghan national team cricketers recently to use his bats.

He said they are hopeful that teams will prefer Kashmiri bats over English willow as for the first time in the history, Kashmir willow bats were used in ICC T20 World Cup last October.

The government’s decision to start a process to give Kashmir bat industry GI tagging has potential to put the industry on the international market with quality control and make a brand out of it. It will also help in raising the prices of these bats.

According to estimates, Kashmir willow bats are priced up to Rs 3,500 per piece, as against the English willow bats whose retail prices range between $220 (Rs 16,000 approx.) and $450 (Rs 33,000 approx.) per bat in international markets.’

“The GI tagging of Kashmir bats is in process and may take some more time. We are planning to hold a capacity building workshop of Kashmiri bat manufacturers at the Indo-British Council so that they will learn the latest techniques in the world in manufacturing,” J&K Director Industries and Commerce, Mehmood Shah told DH.

He said there are more than 500 bat-manufacturing factories in the Valley, mostly in south Kashmir and every 35 lakh to 40 lakh bats are manufactured which provides livelihood to thousands of people.

The department has declared the area from Jawbara, Awantipora to Doonipora, Sangam (500 meters on either side of NH-44) for Cricket Bat Manufacturing units. The Department has taken various steps for safeguarding the bat industry primarily by organizing the awareness camps and motivating the entrepreneurs to establish the willow bat industry.

For further promotions of their brands, the bat manufacturers are approaching Team India players requesting them to promote and use Kashmir willow bats. They are hopeful that with the emergence of speedster Umran Malik, Kashmiri bats will see more demand in near future.

President, Cricket Bat Manufacturing Association (CBMA), Ghulam Qadir Bhat said that GI tagging will benefit every unit holder and will also help in generating more employment. “With GI tagging, we can sell bats across the globe. We would have access to every customer and can sell online with tags and earn customer’s trust,” he said.

A study titled "Indian Sports Goods Industry: Strategies for Tapping the Export Potential" released last September by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman revealed that “Kashmir willow bat is one such product which holds significance as it is made from some of the best quality wood in the world”.

However, the industry is going to face shortage of willow in coming times as farmers have switched over to cultivation of the poplar trees as their maturity or growth period is very high as compared to the maturity period of willow trees.

“A poplar takes only five to seven years to grow into a mature tree whereas willow grows slowly thus taking 10-13 years to grow as mature tree,” said a farmer.

He suggested that the government must bring saplings of English willow to the valley which could be planted on a trial basis.