Cricket helmets have come a long way. During its early days, former England batsman Dennis Amiss had made a fibre-glass motorcycle helmet look cool on the cricket field. A few players such as Mike Brearley and Sunil Gavaskar preferred a skull cap as their protective gear.
The perception around helmets completely changed after the death of Australian batsman Philip Hughes in 2014. He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage after being hit on the helmet by a bouncer in a domestic match.
Since then, the helmet makers have gone a step ahead to ensure protection and comfort. Shrey Sports, one of the top manufacturers of cricket helmets with a broad distribution base spread out to England and Australia, is set to introduce Koroyd helmets in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Raghav Kohli, Founder, Shrey Sports, revealed the benefits of the new helmet which was recently used by Shikhar Dhawan, Moeen Ali, Hardik and Krunal Pandya in the ODI series between India and England.
“The technology is from Monaco in the south of France. They specialise in protective gears and wherever safety is concerned. They just supply the light honeycomb-like structure which we implant in our helmets. It is used in aircrafts and for cycling. It is light-weight and more breathable.
“Approximately, 75 to 80 per cent of the players in this IPL will be using our helmets. A lot of players used the new model at the nets and they have started using it regularly. Some of them may take time to shift to new products,” Kohli told Sportstar.
‘Dual retention system’
The Koroyd helmet will also help in dealing with the sweat while batting, especially during the afternoon double header games.
“In high temperatures, helmets can get sweaty in India but the airflow is much better inside this one. Players do not feel warm and sweaty in Koroyd. It has a dual retention system,” he added.
On an average, Shrey Sports makes around 500 to 600 helmets everyday and among his clients are World Cup winners Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root. “In India, we distribute our helmets to 350 to 400 retail stores that sell cricket equipment. We have our own office and warehouse in England. In England, we usually send in container loads to our warehouse and then it gets distributed to 120-odd cricket stories. We have distributors in New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.”
Kohli is personally in touch with all the players and he alerts them whenever a new model is out of the factory. “Helmet is a personal protective equipment. It is not something that the franchise or a team decides. It is asked by the players.”
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