Last month a customer messaged us on WhatsApp. He'd walked into a sports shop near his colony, picked up a pair of batting pads that looked fine, paid ₹1,800, and come home. First net session, he was pulling a full length delivery and dragging his back foot – the pad kept catching his thigh as he tried to get his knee up. He sent me a photo. The pad was sitting four centimetres above his kneecap, practically on his lower thigh. He's 5'7" and had bought the Large.
This is the most common, most fixable mistake in cricket gear. It costs you nothing to measure. It costs you running speed, range of movement, and the odd run-out when you don't.
Batting pads and gloves are the two most personal pieces of gear in a cricketer's bag. Unlike a bat – where you might try ten before you decide – most players grab whatever the shop recommends in their "size." This guide is about doing it properly, so the gear disappears when you're playing instead of reminding you it's there.
Batting pads: the one measurement that matters
Sit on a chair with your foot flat on the floor. Measure from the centre of your kneecap down to the middle of your ankle bone. That single number – in centimetres – is your pad size. Not "medium." Not "your height." The knee-to-ankle measurement.
The top of the pad should sit 2–3 cm above the kneecap. No more. If it's riding higher than that, the pad is too long and you will feel it every time you stride.
| Size | Knee-to-ankle (cm) | Pad length (inches) | Typical player height |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior | 26–32 cm | 10–12.5" | Under 5'3" |
| Small | 33–36 cm | 13–14" | 5'3"–5'6" |
| Medium | 37–40 cm | 14.5–15.5" | 5'6"–5'10" |
| Large | 41–43 cm | 16–17" | 5'10"–6'1" |
| Extra Large | 44+ cm | 17.5"+ | 6'1" and above |
The calf strap should buckle snugly with the pad sitting flat against your shin – not so tight it cuts off circulation, not so loose it swings out on a wide yorker. The thigh strap is the one most people forget: it should hold the knee roll in place so the pad doesn't rock forward when you knee-flex on the drive.
What's inside the pad: HDF foam, cane rods, and wings
The shell of a batting pad is built around a vertical bolster – the main shin protection. Most modern pads use HDF (high-density foam) with layered polyethylene inserts. At club level, this is absolutely fine: it absorbs impact well, stays light enough, and is replaceable if it compresses.
Some traditional pads still use cane rod construction – vertical split-cane inside a canvas shell. Cane pads have a satisfying solid feel and are preferred by a section of purists, but they're heavier (typically 200–300g more per pad) and can crack on a heavy impact. If you're buying cane, check the weave quality around the knee roll.
The knee rolls come in three configurations, called wing types:
- Single wing: one roll on the inside edge. Lightest option. Fine for bowlers batting down the order who don't want to feel anything on their legs.
- Double wing: rolls on both inside and outside edges. Standard across club and league cricket. Good all-round protection.
- Triple wing (or full-flap): a central bolster plus both side rolls. Best protection, favoured by opening batters who face the new ball. Slightly heavier but meaningful cover if you're getting hit regularly.
Price bands for batting pads (per pair, 2026):
- Club / recreational (₹1,200–₹2,500): HDF foam, basic double-wing, nylon straps. Perfectly adequate for nets and low-level matches. Fit will vary by brand.
- League / intermediate (₹2,500–₹4,500): Better foam density, reinforced knee roll, velcro-buckle hybrid straps. Where most regular club cricketers should land.
- Pro / high-performance (₹4,500–₹6,500+): Lightweight shell construction, triple-wing option, moisture-wicking liner, replaceable foam inserts. If you're opening the batting in league cricket, the weight saving over a long innings is real.
Batting gloves: measure your hand, not your ego
Straighten your dominant hand completely. Measure from the base of your palm – the crease where your wrist begins – to the tip of your middle finger. That is your glove size. Do it with a soft tape measure, not a rough guess.
| Size | Hand length (cm) | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Junior / Youth | 15–18 cm | Under-13 to under-15 players |
| Boys / Small Men's | 18–19 cm | Under-17 or slimmer adult hands |
| Men's | 19–21 cm | Most adult male players |
| Men's Large | 21–23 cm | Larger adult hands |
The fit test: put the glove on, grip a bat handle. Your fingertips should reach the end of the glove without pressing hard against the fabric. If they press firmly, the glove is too short – you'll bruise your fingertips on every thick edge. If your fingers stop more than 1 cm from the end, the glove is too long – the sausage rolls (the padded tubes that sit over your fingers) won't line up with your knuckles. A sausage roll sitting over the wrong part of your finger does nothing useful when the ball hits it.
Palm construction: sausage vs pittard, PU vs leather
Sausage-roll palm: The padded tubes run from the base of the fingers to protect against top-hand knuckle hits. Standard on almost every batting glove. The question is what's underneath – full-roll vs split-finger.
- Full-roll (unsplit): the sausage sits over all four fingers together. Traditional. Simpler to manufacture. The fingers can move a little less independently.
- Split-finger: index and middle finger split from ring and little finger. Slightly better grip feel; the glove flexes more naturally around the bat handle. Common on gloves above ₹2,000.
Palm material affects feel and durability:
- PU (polyurethane) palm: most common at ₹700–₹2,500. Durable, consistent grip, washable. Starts to peel after 1–2 seasons of heavy use.
- Pittard leather palm: sheepskin leather used on premium gloves (₹3,000+). Grip improves as it breaks in, excellent bat feedback, but needs drying properly after a sweaty session or it hardens. Worth it if you bat long and regularly.
Price bands for batting gloves (per pair, 2026):
- Club / recreational (₹700–₹1,500): PU palm, full-roll sausage, basic wrist strap. Fine for occasional nets.
- League / intermediate (₹1,500–₹3,000): Better padding density, split-finger construction, improved wrist wrap. Where committed club players should aim.
- Pro / high-performance (₹3,000–₹4,500+): Pittard or premium leather palm, split-finger, reinforced cuff, well-padded thumb. If your top hand takes hits and you bat in the top four, this is the tier.
Wicketkeeping gloves – a completely different conversation
I'll keep this section honest and brief: do not try to keep wickets in batting gloves. I've seen it at club level. It ends with broken fingers.
Keeping gloves are designed around three things batting gloves aren't: a webbed thumb-and-forefinger catching pocket, a much softer palm to cushion catches from fast bowling, and sizing by hand width rather than hand length (because a keeper needs a wider catching surface, not just length coverage).
Size a keeping glove by measuring the widest part of your open palm, across the knuckles.
- Boys: up to 19 cm palm width
- Small: 19–20 cm
- Medium: 20–21.5 cm
- Large: 21.5+ cm
The fit should be snug, with the webbing sitting right in the V between thumb and forefinger when you spread your hand. If the webbing is slack, you'll drop catches going across the body. Price range for a solid club-level keeping glove: ₹1,800–₹4,500. Don't go below ₹1,500 – at that point the palm foam compresses in a single session.
Inner gloves – both hands, every time
This is the one accessory players skip most often, and it's also the cheapest mistake to fix. Inner gloves serve two purposes: they absorb sweat (which means your outer gloves grip better and last longer), and they add a thin layer of knuckle protection that stops the bone-on-leather bruising you get when the ball hits a seam and the glove flexes.
For batting inners: thin lycra or cotton, ₹200–₹600 a pair. Wash after every session. Replace when the finger fabric thins out. Keepers use a thicker padded version (₹400–₹900) that also protects against impact from the ball hitting the palm of the keeping glove and transmitting through.
Junior sizing – a specific note
Children's hands and legs are shorter and narrower than adults' in proportion. A "Boys Medium" pad from one brand and a "Boys Medium" from another can differ by 3–4 cm in the knee roll height. Always measure; never trust the label across brands.
For players under 14, the pad should sit no higher than 2 cm above the knee and absolutely must not reach the lower thigh. Junior pads also need to weigh under 650g per pad – a child dragging 900g pads through a running between-wickets drill will tire much faster, affecting their batting completely independently of technique.
Junior gloves: measure the hand the same way as adults. Most under-13 players fit Youth or Boys sizing (15–18 cm). Check that the sausage rolls line up with the knuckles before buying. At junior level this check takes about five seconds and prevents every match day complaint.
Care and life expectancy
Pads: the foam inside compresses slowly with use. After two to three seasons of regular club cricket, the knee roll on most club-level pads has lost 20–30% of its original density. You can feel this by pressing it with your thumb – it should spring back. If it stays depressed, it's done its job and needs replacing. Keep pads dry between sessions; damp foam deteriorates faster. Our gear maintenance article covers cleaning and storage in detail.
Gloves: the PU palm peeling is the obvious sign. Slightly less obvious is the sausage roll foam compressing until it's flat. A flat sausage roll is decoration, not protection. Average useful life for a ₹1,500 glove in regular use: two seasons. For a ₹3,500 Pittard leather glove with proper care: three to four seasons.
The common mistakes, summarised
- Oversized pads. As described: restricts stride, slows you between wickets. Always measure knee-to-ankle.
- Gloves where the sausage rolls don't reach the knuckles. Usually means the glove is too long. The hand length chart above fixes this in seconds.
- Not trying gloves with a bat handle. A glove that feels fine picking things up can shift completely when you grip a bat handle. Always test grip position before buying.
- Buying keeping gloves the same way as batting gloves. Completely different sizing and construction. See the separate section above.
- Skipping inners. ₹300 inners extend the life of ₹3,000 outer gloves by a full season. This is the easiest value in cricket gear.
How Royal Cricket Shop actually helps
Message us on WhatsApp with two measurements: your knee-to-ankle in centimetres, and your hand length from base of palm to tip of middle finger. If you're buying for a junior, send both. We'll come back with specific pad and glove recommendations – what's in stock, what the price is, what we'd genuinely choose in your position. Not a range of options designed to upsell; a short, honest list.
Cricket is our flagship – it's what we built the shop around, and protective gear is where we get the most questions. Football is our newer offering, run on exactly the same logic: fewer SKUs, deeper knowledge, real people on WhatsApp within seconds. If you're in Delhi or anywhere in India, we can get the right-sized gear to you faster than a marketplace, and you'll know what you're receiving before it arrives – not after it's already too small.