The magnificent Shrey helmets bulk ordered by a number of enthusiastic Old Scotch Cricketers have finally arrived!
The helmets are of a traditional design, yet at the same time offer first class protection and ventilation.
The best thing about the order is that we got the Old Scotch CC logo embroidered on the front so we can wear our helmets with pride throughout the season.
Shrey helmets is run by the famous Kohli family of India. The Kohlis have been in the sporting goods business for four generations. The original brand, Beat All Sports, better known as BAS, was the willow with which both Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni began their journeys in cricket as well as TK Sports their sporting apparel arm. While the Kohli's pedigree is impeccable, their companies have kept pace with modern demands, and fought off bigger corporations and their seemingly unlimited marketing budgets to bag the apparel rights to three Indian Premier League teams – notably Kings XI Punjab, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Hyderabad Sunrisers as well as a host of Caribbean Premier League and Ranji Trophy teams.
The range of helmets, called Shrey, gets its name from Shrey Kohli, the youngest member of the TK Sports family business. On November 17, 2012, an enthusiastic Shrey got on the road from Jalandhar to Kanpur, intending to deliver a batch of equipment personally to Suresh Raina and some other Uttar Pradesh players. He would never make it as he was killed in a car crash, at just 21, when his life in cricket was just beginning.
“We had to do something for Shrey, through which everyone would remember him for the rest of their lives. We wanted to do something good for him and that’s why this range of helmets named after him,” Raghav told Wisden India. “The helmet we make is probably the No. 1 helmet in the world. More than 60% of players use it.”
While Raghav is proud of the range, the tragic association with his brother is something that tinges any happiness with a sense of regret. “Shrey was very smart, used to deal with all the players. He was very close to Raina. The players loved him because he was a youngster, he got along very well with the boys,” remembered Raghav. “Because of that relationship, he used to go himself to deliver the equipment, though he could have easily sent it through someone else.”
Old Scotch CC enthusiast and occasional opening batsman, Vic Nicholas, co-ordinated the order of these magnificent helmets. Vic stresses that the helmets association with the sadly departed Shrey Kohli make them more than a piece of cricketing equipment, but a living testament to the life of a young cricketer from a far away land who loved nothing more than making fellow cricketers happy and hoping everyone would enjoy the game he loved.
"With Shrey's name on the back of my new helmet, I will always spare a thought for a young cricketer taken before his time every time I put my helmet on" Vic Nicholas says.
http://www.shreyhelmets.com