Top 5 cricketers to have used MRF bat
A partnership that started in the mid-1990s didn't even know what it was going to become in future. "MRF" which stand for "Madras Rubber Factory" opted to sponsor a certain Sachin Tendulkar, a young upstart who was slowly starting to become the cricket frenzied nation's only hope.
At that time Sachin was without a sponsor for his bat and Sachin's manager Mark Mascarenhas was able to pull off this deal with MRF and both embarked upon a journey in which Sachin and the "MRF" bat that he wielded reached iconic status all over the globe.
For a long time, it was only Sachin Tendulkar who wielded a willow with an "MRF" sticker on it. But in due time MRF also spread its wings and sponsored many other players.
During the years that have followed, there have been a plethora of batsmen who have graced the batting crease with an "MRF" sticker on their bat. Be it Shikhar Dhawan or Virat Kohli these days. Or just sometime earlier, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma as well.
A good move or not but MRF opening its arms to sponsor more and more players in recent times has certainly had an effect on the aura or the exclusivity of the "MRF" Bat. With so many players wielding an MRF willow the exclusivity and the iconic stature that the bat had has gotten diluted to an extent.
But still, some amazing batsmen in the history of cricket have had a chance to get a hold of it. Let's have a look at the top 5 Players who have wielded an "MRF" willow during their career.
#1 Sachin Tendulkar
If there was a player that put "MRF" on the cricketing map then it has to be Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin is single-handedly responsible for the iconic status that the "MRF" bat reached.
Signed up by MRF after the 1996 World Cup Sachin slowly came about to become the best batsman of that era and among other things that differentiated from the rest was the tiny fact that he used an MRF bat whenever he walked out to bat.
In a world of Gray Nicolls and Slazenger bats, when the best batsman in a world uses something that was uniquely associated to him it started getting identified with him and the brand itself reached iconic status.
In Tests:
Matches: 200 Runs: 15921 100s/50s:51/68 Highest Score:248*
In ODIs:
Matches:463 Runs:18426 100s/50s:49/96 Highest Score: 200