Adidas India has replaced Killer and MPL as the official kit sponsor for the Indian Cricket Team. Adidas has signed a five-year contract with the Board of Control of Cricket (BCCI). The financials for the deal are not known but reports suggest that the five-year deal was worth over Rs 250 crore
According to reports, Adidas will be paying Rs 75 lakh per match. Nike, which had a deal with the BCCI until September 2020, was paying Rs 88 lakh per match to BCCI. The BCCI will also get a royalty of Rs 10 crore per year on the merchandise sold by Adidas over the next five-year cycle
In 2004, when BCCI had invited bids for the Indian Cricket Team kit sponsorship, Nike splashed nearly Rs 200 crore for the rights to get the swoosh on the Indian jersey for the first 5 years. Nike’s bid was 60% higher than Adidas’ bid back then. They renewed the contract in 2011 for another Rs 270 crore. And then again in 2016 for Rs 370 crors, as per reports. For 14 years, Nike was the official kit sponsor for the Indian team
In 2020, BCCI had announced MPL Sports as the Official Kit Sponsor for Team India. The gaming company opted to end its deal one year early, following which, BCCI signed an agreement with Kewal Kiran Clothing Limited (KKCL) making its brand Killer the kit sponsor of the national team. As per reports, both KKCL and MPL paid Rs 65 lakh per match
Earlier this month, Adidas revealed the all-new Indian cricket team jerseys. The company released a dark blue jersey without collar for T20; a light blue jersey with collar for ODI; and a white jersey for Test cricket. The Indian men's cricket team wore the new kit for the first time in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia that began on June 7 at the Oval in London.
Aside from official kit sponsors, the teams also have an official jersey sponsor. From 1993 to 1999, ITC (Wills & ITC Hotels) was the official jersey sponsor of the Indian team. Sahara became the jersey sponsor in 2001, and continued to remain so till 2013. Later, Star India, Oppo, and then Byju's became the jersey sponsors
Adidas is only the official kit sponsor, and not the jersey sponsor. BCCI is still in negotiations with two companies that can take over as jersey sponsors of the Indian team to replace Byju’s, whose contract expired in March. “In case we are unable to find a long-term partner, we will be making a stop-gap arrangement,” a BCCI official had said earlier
Indian cricket’s jersey sponsorship has been in some flux since Byju's, their former edtech partner, found itself facing a financial crunch. In 2019, Byju's took over BCCI sponsorship from Oppo - it was reportedly paying Rs 1,079 crore (Rs 4.61 crore per bilateral match and Rs 1.56 crore per ICC match) for five years till March 2022. This deal was extended in June 2022 and was to continue till November 2023
With legal and financial trouble, Byju’s requested the BCCI to end the contract early. BCCI permitted Byju’s to exit 6 months before the contract ended in November. With Byju’s exit, BCCI floated a new tender in the meantime