Anantnag: Fawzul Kabeer, a Kashmir-based sports entrepreneur, got emotional when Oman in the opening match of the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 cricket World Cup on October 17, beat Papua New Guinea.
At his home in south Kashmir’s Sangam, Anantnag, Kabeer was over the moon as he watched the match on television. Some Omani players had been using bats and sports gear manufactured at a unit he owns and runs in south Kashmir.
“It was not just an emotional day but a historical day for the bat manufacturing fraternity in Kashmir. It is the hard work of seven years which is finally paying off today,” Kabeer said.
Cricketing legends like Sir Vivian Richards, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar have previously used Kashmir willow bats, but this is the first time bats manufactured in Kashmir are being used by international cricket players in a mega event like the T20 World Cup.
Kabeer, who is the owner of GR8 Sports, said that Omani players including Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah and wicketkeeper-batsman Naseem Khushi had agreed to play with the bat and other equipment manufactured at his unit.
Made in Kashmir
The 7-kilometer stretch of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway is one of two places in the world that produce professional bats made of willow—the other being England.
Read more: Cricket bat shortage: Brazilians start manufacturing their own as sport gains popularity
Nearly 100 families along the Jawbehra-Sangam stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, and one lakh people both locals as well as non-locals who work with them, make up India's largest cricket-bat-manufacturing belt. The sector has an annual turnover of around Rs 100 crore.
The department of industries and commerce Kashmir has declared the area from Jawbehra-Sangam an industrial zone (500 meters on either side on highway) for cricket bat manufacturing units.
About 40 kilometers south from Srinagar city, the National Highway is dotted with cricket bat factories and shops on both sides. Large billboards sporting pictures of cricketers like Pervez Rasool, Virat Kohli and Shahid Afridi adorn the highway for around 500 meters.
The willow wood (scientific name: Salix alba var. caerulea) is sourced in bulk, usually from Anantnag and Pulwama districts. Despite Kashmir being the only place in India where willow trees are grown, no cricketer had previously used Kashmir willow bats in any international tourney.
Brand focus
The region’s sports industry had almost collapsed until entrepreneurs like Kabeer decided to take the willow bats of Kashmir international.
“Our entrepreneurs previously used to supply the raw material of Kashmir willow to Jalandhar- and Meerut-based companies. The dealers were using their labels and marketing our items across. But now I am not only manufacturing bats but I also market them in various countries,” said Kabeer, 29, an MBA from the Islamic University of Science and Technology Awantipora, Kashmir.
Kabeer’s parents have been in the bat making business since 1974. His father Abdul Kabeer Dar had a cricket bat factory in his native village. “We were making good profit,” Kabeer said. In 2014, when Kabeer lost his father he decided to take the family business forward. “It took me more than five years to learn the willow business. I not only imbibed training in ICC Cricket Academy and other countries, but I also read a lot to understand the art, market and future of this business.”
He is now hopeful that bats and sports gear manufactured in his unit will be used by players from Test playing nations. “I have already received a positive response from the players of Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand,” Kabeer said.
Behind the scenes
Inside his sawmill where bats are manufactured, skilled workers are covered with sawdust from head to toe.
Asked how cricket bats are made in his unit, Kabeer replied: The willow wood is cut into blocks called clefts and left in stacks to dry under the sun for up to six months. Once ready to use, the wood is chiselled, hammered and polished by the workers into the finished product.
Kabeer added that it takes 15-20 years for a willow tree to mature and yield the maximum number of clefts. “These days, high-density willow trees are also planted which get ready within 7-8 years. Furthermore, the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu (SKUAST-Kashmir) has also identified and selected four promising clones of willow,” Kabeer said.
Kabeer, who is also spokesperson of the cricket bat manufacturing association of Kashmir, said that in international cricket, the wide use of English willow is mainly because willow clefts of Kashmir were smuggled out of the Valley, and Meerut and Jalandhar based dealers had hijacked the bat supply of Kashmir.
Realizing that the raw material was being used unsustainably and sold at cheaper rates outside the Valley, the government of J&K in 1998 imposed a ban on the export of raw clefts.
Plantation history
Kabeer claimed that Kashmir willow bats are as good as English willow owing to the rigid material and low moisture. Thanks to their affordability, durability and quality, Kashmir is the second largest exporter of cricket bats after England.
Though the willow was believed to have existed in Kashmir centuries ago, a large-scale effort to plant it in the region was carried out during the 19th century on the advice of Walter R. Lawrence and J.C. Macdonell, who was then the head of the forest department of the state.
Lawrence, in his 1895 book, The Valley of Kashmir, wrote: “The vir, or willow, grows in every village of Kashmir where there is water or moisture, and its reproduction is very simple. There is an enormous waste of withies every year, as the young wands are cut down for fodder and after being stripped of their leaves are burnt for fuel. I have suggested that a Kashmiri should be sent to England to learn the basket industry. There is ample material in the valley to supply the whole of India with excellent baskets and chairs."
Kabeer said that in 1918, Britishers for the first time brought a willow tree to Kashmir and planted it in the Valley. The history of producing cricket bats in Kashmir dates back to the 19th century when an industrialist Allah Baksh from Pakistan established his sub-unit at Halmulla, Bijbehara for conversion of willow logs into clefts for onward finishing at Sailkot.
Curve balls
Regarding the challenges, Kabeer said that the electricity crisis and extinction of willow trees is a looming threat. Inconsistent power supply means that manufacturers have to use diesel generators, which increases costs.
“It is not just the electricity crisis which is incurring heavy losses to our business but the lack of willow plantation drives in the region has left no future for this industry,” Kabir said.
For instance, Kabeer said the willow trees are ruthlessly felled and used for bat making in around 300 units across Kashmir but such trees are not planted again.
“There is a lack of sustainability. With rising demand, the willow has come under severe pressure but there are hardly any new trees being planted to compensate for those felled," Kabeer said. "Our repeated pleas to the government to plant willow trees on state land have fallen on deaf ears. The extinction of willow is due within 5-6 years if rapid plantation drives are not immediately launched in the region,” he said.
Kabeer added: “In England, willow is being cultivated for the sole purpose of bat manufacturing. But unfortunately here, people do not know the difference between male willow variant and female variant. The reason why willow is facing a threat today is because people have been using willow wood as fuel.”
Besides this, the industry has been jolted by political unrest in the region starting with the 2008 Amarnath land row, followed by civil unrest after the killing of Tufail Matoo in 2010 and the 2016 agitation following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Burhan Wani. The floods in 2014 also led to heavy losses that ran into crores of rupees.
The Covid-19 pandemic, too, has left a mark. “The six-month lockdown and information blackout after the Central government abrogated Article 370 in August 2019 resulted in heavy losses which were followed by the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020-21. These years have wreaked havoc on our businesses leaving us to face an uncertain future,” Bashir Ahmad, a bat manufacturer in Sangam, told Moneycontrol.
According to a report, during the past three years, the cricket bat industry in Kashmir has incurred a loss of more than Rs 1,000 crore.
Despite these challenges, the government in order to boost the bat industry in the Valley is mulling a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for cricket bats made with Kashmir willow.
The thinking: GI tagging will serve as a great marketing strategy for selling these bats in markets and will also help in increasing its prices.
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