Srinagar, Oct 21 : In a big achievement to the bat industry of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir made willow bats have reached to international stage as few players from Oman cricket team are playing with Kashmiri bats in T20 World Cup. People who are associated with this industry since decades said that is the first time that a Kashmir made willow bat is being used by international players. They said that there are around 300 bat manufacturing units in the Industrial area from Sangam to Awantipora in southern Kashmir and this is the first time that bat of one unit has been selected by a few players of Oman cricket team and are playing with it. They said that such an achievement will pave the way for other units as well and in coming time, bats of other units will be used by more popular international players. Fawzul Kabir, a 29 year old MBA pass out from Islamic University of Science and Technology Awantipora who is pursuing PhD from a university in Canada, said that after hectic efforts few players of Oman agreed to play with our bats which are manufactured at our unit GR8 sports industry in Halmulla Sangam area of Anantnag. Kabir, who is owner of GR8 sports has inherited this unit from his late father who had started this unit in 1974, said that few players accepted to play with our manufactured bat in the T20 World Cup currently being played in UAE. “Earlier, we were preparing here only raw material of bats which was then being sent to Jalandhar, Meerat and other cities where they were using their own brand and selling them to international players,” he said. “Now, we are preparing bats here only and it is the first time that our manufacturing has reached the international stage as few players including Mohammed Naseem have played by using our bat,” he said. “Now our aim is that prolific players like Virat Kohli, Babar Azam and others should play with our Kashmir made bats.”—(KNO)
