Team India Replaces Shirt Sponsor With Little Fanfare 

Despite being the most lucrative national cricket team for sponsorship, Team India has been mired in shirt sponsorship woes after its long-term deal with Nike ended in late 2020. 

MPL Sports, a local sports apparel brand that had taken up mantle after Nike, has left abruptly after two years kitting the team. It has been replaced by Kewel Kiran Clothing Limited (KKCL), largely known for its Killer Jeans brand domestically. The deal is believed to be a one-year affair that ends in December 2023.     

This is not the first time in recent years that a Team India sponsorship deal has been the subject of an early termination.  Prior to MPL’s exit, we had seen Paytm transferring its BCCI sponsorship rights to Mastercard. Talk in the grapevine has also suggested that even Byju’s is planning to retreat from its current shirt sponsorship deal. 

The deal with KKCL, a leading  Indian apparel retailer, was announced in a rather muted manner, however, netizens have been having a go at how Team India’s shirts have fallen from the sleekness of Nike in the mid 2000s to a non-endemic player like KKCL.   

According to ASN data, cricket investment in India has been faring below its quarterly average of almost US$125.6m since Q321 (the notable exception being Q222 with US$138m) and this is largely linked to major sponsorship players retreating from their blockbuster deals.