Print

[KPittman]

Apologies for this bat review being so late, but better late than never! In 2014 on one of my first visits down to IJC, I came across a Cadburys purple stickered ST bat in the Tendulkar shape - packing 22 ruler straight grains. After spending a bit too much time consulting my wallet, the bat was snapped up and I was left curious. So a couple of months later, after he replied to my ad on CBF requesting a new blade - the Batmaker of Bucharest Sudeep Thakur offered to make me one of his Avenger bats, modelled after the Michael Clarke/Virat Kohli shape. Sudeep was a class act when it comes to customer service, always replying quickly and listening to every request and instruction very closely
 
Being a comic book fan and a cricketing nerd, having a bat called the ST Avenger was ideal, but this 2.8 Romanian built bludgeoner was anything but just a name. What Sudeep produced for me was a full bodied blade with no concaving ensuring that the ball flies off anywhere across the width of the blade. Its not the worlds biggest bat, but it hits a very heavy ball - the 155 I scored in my second innings with it is still my PB and the runs didnt stop there. I scored over 1000 runs for the first time in the 2014 season with the Avenger, thanks to the confidence I had wielding this awesome piece of willow. The duckbilled toe ensures a lovely pickup, whilst the semi oval bottom half of the handle made manoeuvring the bat a breeze.

I purchased a 2.7 Newbery Kudos from IJC at the beginning of the 2015 season which was an absolute gun (cheers Paul) and used it for the first 80% of the season, but after the toe got split open by a well delivered yorker - I sent it off for repairs. I went back to the ST for a few games, and after flicking my second ball off my legs for six (that just doesnt happen) then I figured I may have said goodbye a bit too soon!

Anyway Ive attached pictures so you can see how it looks, Id definitely recommend sending Sudeep a message, as he is a pleasure to deal with and a top class batmaker!

http://imgur.com/a/krNes

[northernboy1987]

Nice shape that. Never heard of the maker though!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[tushar sehgal]

He is on here as mad_abt_cricket


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sivlar13]

Some beautiful grainage!! What's the weight and how much did it set you back?

[KPittman]

It weighs about 2 pound 8.5 ounces, absolutely plows the ball as well! Cost me 210 but pretty sure they're 235 if you check out his FB page.

[mad_abt_cricket]

Hi Kyle,

Thank you for your detailed review. Glad to know that ST Avenger is still going strong!