MRF brand and its association with cricket bats will remind you the golden era of world cricket. This deadly combination gave the first and only 400 runs inning in the test cricket. Fastest 100 of One day cricket has also been associated with MRF bats. World cup final, 2011, Gautam Gambhir’s crucial innings of 97 to Virat Kohli’s fastest century for India in One day cricket, all came with the same deadliest combination.
Sachin Tendulkar, who is known as the “God of cricket”, played with MRF BAT in his most of the career. And one thing if you have noticed that these bats are associated with the bests, it means starting from Sachin Tendulkar to great Brain Lara, Australia’s Steve Waugh to South Africa’s AB De Villiers, and now Shikhar Dhawan to Indian Captain Virat Kohli, this brand likes to connect its name with all-time greats.
So let’s check out some star players and their association with MRF brand.
MRF Bats by Khelmart
1) Sachin Tendulkar
He was the first player who put the MRF brand’s tag on the map of the cricketing world. Tendulkar is solely responsible for the MRF’s brand value and for the status of MRF bats.
After the ending of the 1996 World Cup, Sachin singed the deal with MRF’s company for the endorsement. After some time, people started to recognize that he used MRF bat while playing, whenever he walked in the ground and then the era began for the little master. It is true, that was the time of Gray Nicolls and Slazenger bats, and whenever the batsman uses something different and unique, it is started to recognize.
2) Brian Lara
The West Indian cricketer was the later entry to the MRF list, but despite that what an inclusion he was. He was one of the greatest brand ambassadors for the MRF bats. He will be remembered for his unbelievable 400 runs innings. Brian Lara’s career is completely defined by the MRF bats that bags the biggest records in international cricket for him.
3) Virat Kohli
After the era of great Sachin Tendulkar, the legacy is continuing with the name of Virat Kohli. We can say that in so many ways, Virat is not lesser than the great little master. The star batsman started his career with Nike’s tag on his bat. But after he started to rule the cricketing world, he followed the ceremonial of a great batsman and associated himself with MRF’s bat, and after that, the whole world knows what he has done.
And this the only reason why Kohli’s bat shows the tag of “Genius” on his bat, and interestingly the same phrase Sachin’s bat also used to carry.
4) AB De Villiers
The star batsman of South Africa is also associated with MRF’s bat, although this brand partnership was for not too long. But there were many greats of the game who had been associated with MRF like Australia batsman Steve Waugh and former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir who scored the most valuable runs for the Indian side in the world cup, 2011. Current Indian batsman Shikhar Dhawan and New sensation of India, Parthiv Shah also stand in the elite list of MRF bats.
Virat and MRF Brand
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Around twenty years back from now, the concept of sports endorsements in India was redefined by Mark Mascarenhas when Sachin bagged the deal of 100 crores and merged as the first cricketer of this sort of brand value. And still, these numbers create a commotion when someone says about the 100 crore deal or endorsement.
India’s star batsman and captain and being considered as the biggest ever brand since Sachin, has signed the humongous endorsement deal of eight-year with Rs 100 crore to have MRF tag on his bat, it means more than Rs 12 crore a year. And his last three-year contract with MRF brand was for Rs 8 crore.
After this contract with MRF Company, Virat has set the definition of brand value in the cricketing world. If we talk about some other players in the sponsorship world then this list goes like this, MS Dhoni is next in line when it comes to bigger prices of bat sponsorships among Indian cricketers, who bags Rs 4 crore a year. Vice-Captain of the Indian team Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan takes Rs 3 crore a year on their homes, while Raina’s bat contract is around worth of Rs 2.5 crore and Ajinkya Rahane’s also bagged Rs 2 crore per year.
MRF grand Edition
The captain and star player of the Indian cricket team uses MRF bat, which is made from A Grade English willow. In term of weight, it is around 1.1 to 1.23 that provides the right balance and ease to open his arm quickly.
This bat has a curved blade, with a thickness of ranging from 38 to 42 mm. The MRF Virat Kohli Bat costs between Rs 17,000 to Rs 23,000. Usually, the number of grains on the bat is the basic parameter to determine the bat’s price. Kohli’s grand edition bats have eight to 12 grains on its surface.
As we have discussed that the price of a bat totally depends on the number of grains on its surface. And the grains are the lines that determine the life of the willow. They say the more the grains, better the shots. And anything which is above 7 grains is considered as high quality.
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The feature of MRF grand edition
Weight: varies from 1.1 to 1.23 kg.
Willow: A grade English Willow.
Handle: quality of Shock absorption with a 9-piece cane.
Edges: Shows the thickness range of 38 to 42 mm with Curved blade.
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This bat is purely handcrafted with latest equipment which makes it unique in itself. The section of the sweet spot and the weight of the cricket bat is highly maintained for a long and better performance.
Some other players like MSD use special bats called Spartan MSD 7 Limited Edition, for the attainment of the special tasks. These bats weigh around 1.1 to 1.25 kg and show the larger swell depth. It means these bats have a bigger sweet spot. For better balance and performance, these edition bats feature a nine-piece cane handle.
The world boss Chris Gayle’s uses his favourite Spartan CG “The boss” bat for an explosive inning. Because these handcrafted cricket bats have a large bow, great light pickup edges quality which stretched to the 40 mm and 12-piece cane handle. These special editions bat weighs around 1.1 to 1.3 kg.
The deadly combination of Virat and MRF grand edition
Kohli has said “When it comes to chasing, I love to challenge myself. I like to test my ability to hit the strokes and the essential quality of rotating the strikes.” This word shows the defiant strength itself.
The captain of the Indian cricket team and one of the greatest of the game likes to play aggressively with his MRF grand edition cricket bat. He is naturally an attacking batsman with strong batting techniques. And the stats speak itself, Kohli has already smashed 41 One international hundreds in just 225 matches at the age of 30.
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Kholi has shown the daring and fiercely talent with his MRF cricket bat. In a very short span of time, Virat has emerged as the pack-leading face of the world cricket. With his bottom-hand grip and the drastic ability to smash the balls, makes him the best in the world. With his world-class performance, he has made the reputation of King of cricket.
With his MRF grand edition bat, he likes to flick the ball down the ground, he loves to play the cracking cover drives and the ability of sweep shots and solid defence makes the world to salute this gentleman of the game.
The star batsman himself stated that “He used to copy the great Sachin Tendulkar and copies him the way he batted and hits the balls.” The Former West Indies captain and star of the 90’s era, great Vivian Richards, who was considered as the most destructive and brutal batsman in the world cricket, once stated that “Kohli reminds him of himself”.
Conclusion
After discussing every aspect of the MRF brand history with the greats and Kohli’s grand edition, we can say the best always chooses the best. Virat and the combination of the genius grand edition is the most brutal and deadliest pair of the world cricket in the history of world cricket. Both are invincible in any form of the game, whether it is the test, one day or the fastest cricket.