Which bat should you use for tennis ball cricket?

Use a lighter Poplar or Kashmir Willow bat for the soft tennis ball, and a heavier, harder-pressed Sri Lankan wood bat for the medium or hard tennis ball. Playing a soft-ball bat against a hard ball is the single most common reason a tennis bat cracks within a season.

The ball decides everything else

A soft tennis ball weighs around 55–60g and gives on impact. A medium or "hard" tennis ball is heavier and barely gives at all, so the same shot puts far more shock into the blade. That is why bats are built differently for each, and why the first question we ask a customer is which ball they play with.

If you play with the soft ball

Look for Poplar or Kashmir Willow at 550–800g. It will pick up fast, which matters more than raw power when the ball is not coming on. Our Regular Bat and the lighter Kashmir models are built for exactly this, from ₹950.

If you play with the medium or hard ball

You want Sri Lankan (Ceylon) wood, a heavier press, and ideally a seasoned face. Sri Lankan wood is denser than Kashmir Willow and takes repeated hard-ball impact without lifting. Our Power X line carries triple hard seasoning for this reason.

If you play with both

Buy for the harder ball. A bat built for the medium ball will handle a soft ball perfectly well; the reverse is not true. If you are genuinely split, tell us and we will suggest a middle weight rather than selling you two bats.

A quick way to check

Press your thumbnail into the face near the middle. If it marks easily, that bat is not built for a hard ball. A properly seasoned face resists it.