India’s Abhishek Sharma’s revelation of him playing with teammate Shubman Gill’s blade to score his maiden T20I hundred in Harare, is a good addition to a clutch of stories revolving around borrowed bats

India’s Abhishek Sharma celebrates his century during the second T20I against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club in Harare on Sunday. Pic/AFP

Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” This obviously doesn’t hold good for things other than money. Further manifestation of this came through when India’s latest T20I centurion, Abhishek Sharma revealed that he had used teammate Shubman Gill’s bat to crack a century against Zimbabwe at Harare on Sunday.

Indian cricket is littered with instances of sparkling performances made possible with borrowed gear, especially bats, across eras. The earliest example I stumbled upon was 1964 when prolific domestic batsman Vijay Bhosale returned from his English league commitments with a Gray-Nicolls long handle bat which he lent to his Maharashtra teammate Chandu Borde.

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By then, Borde had travelled the world and was an established player in MAK Pataudi’s Indian team. Bhosale told me on Wednesday from New Zealand that Borde used his bat in the second Test against Australia at Mumbai, where his invaluable 30 not out helped India clinch the Test against Bob Simpson’s team in thrilling fashion.

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