MS Dhoni will have to change his bat to adhere to MCC guidelines

The Marylebone Cricket Club guidelines were issued in March this year to ensure a much more even contest between the bat and ball. According to the specifications of the guidelines, the bats will also be limited to 108mm in width and 67mm in depth, apart from the 40mm edges.

The rule is set to come into play from October 1 and now with that deadline approaching, some of the best batsmen in the world will have to make changes to their willow. This list includes the likes of MS Dhoni, David Warner, and Chris Gayle. All of them have been using 50mm edges that helped them dominate bowlers, especially in the shorter versions of the game. Kieron Pollard, on the other hand, had been using a bat whose edges were thicker than what would be permitted from October and therefore, changed his bat during this year’s IPL itself, telling reporters that it "made no sense" to wait until October, reported TOI.

Among the Indian batsmen though, Dhoni is the only one who uses a bat with a 45mm edge. He also uses the heaviest bat with a total weight between 1250 gm to 1300 gm, with a 12-inch sweet spot, which starts from four inches above the bottom of the bat to 16 inches. Dhoni’s successor, Virat Kohli, on the other hand, uses a bat whose specifications are within the rules as his bat weighs around 1160 gm with eight inches of the sweet spot, which starts from six inches above the bottom of the bat to 14 inches.

Further, most other Indian players also use bats which are within the guidelines and this includes KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Rishabh Pant. Meanwhile, South Africa's AB de Villiers, Australia's Steve Smith and England's Joe Root also use bats with less than 40mm edges and won't need to change their gear.