It was a difficult task to cater to ‘perfectionist’ Rahul Dravid’s bats: SG Managing Director

Former India captain Rahul Dravid was a “perfectionist” and it was quite a difficult task to cater to his bat requirements, revealed SG (Sanspareils Greenlands) Managing Director Paras Anand. Anand said Rahul Dravid was very particular about his bat specifications and would figure out even the tiniest of dimensional errors.

In a live chat with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda’s Facebook page, Anand said:

“He is a perfectionist. The kind of specifications he would give to you for his bat was not easy for any bat-maker to give him what he needed in his bat. He would come back to you with the dimensions [saying], ‘My handle should be this thick...the edge size should be this much, the spine size [should be this much].’”

Anand further said that Rahul Dravid always knew what he wanted and that the margin for error while looking after his requirements was very less.

“If you are off by say five grams or off by maybe half a millimetre, he would just find out. Without measuring, he would know...and he is that sort of a person and that is expected because you know the kind of a professional he is and the kind of details he gets into,” added Anand.

Rahul Dravid’s fond memories with SG

Rahul Dravid scored 31 runs in the only T20I he played in his career. Credits: The Swamy Army

The latest memory of Rahul Dravid with the SG bat is when he scored 461 runs in 4 Tests on the England tour in 2011. 'The Wall' also smashed Samit Patel for three consecutive sixes in the one-off T20I.

SG is the largest cricketing equipments manufacturing company in the world. With the main factory located in Meerut, the company produces around three million products annually, including 500,000 bats and between 450,000 to 500,000 balls.

Anand said the members of the Indian team visit their factory at least once a year, particularly before leaving for an international tour. SG currently sponsors around 40 cricketers all over the world and 100 domestic players.