Google Pay and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) Boost KKR’s Sponsorship Portfolio 

Ahead of the 2026 IPL Season, Google Pay and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) have hopped onto the sponsorship wagon with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). 

Under the  partnership, Google Pay has been named the KKR’s payment partner, while BGMI has joined as an official partner, signally push into both fintech and gaming-led fan engagement. 

Google Pay’s association is poised to focus around transaction-led integrations, including ticketing, merchandise purchases, and promotional campaigns designed to fuel user and fan engagement during the season. By fusing itself into key fan touchpoints, the payment platform aims to capitalise on the IPL’s scale to strengthen usage within India’s competitive UPI ecosystem.

Meanwhile BGMI’s role focuses on attracting youthful mobile-savvy audiences as gaming partnerships have become pivotal for sports teams to bank on fan engagement efforts such as interactive campaigns, in-game activations and content crossovers.  Besides KKR, BGMI also has a similar deal with IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK). 

According to ASN data, cricket (8.1%, ~US$967.2m) is the 5^th largest backed sport in the Asian sponsorship market since Q223, with a quarterly average investment of almost US$84.9m during this period. However, spends have oscillated between US$31.5m and US$62.6m since Q324, and the Q126 forecast is in a similar vein, poised to reach US$67.2m.