Dream11 to replace BYJU's as Indian Cricket Team's lead sponsor - Reports

According to reports, fantasy cricket platform Dream11 will replace BYJU's as Indian Cricket Team's lead sponsor.

If reports are to be believed then, fantasy gaming giant Dream11 has secured the sponsorship rights of the Indian team starting from 2023 till 2027 and will replace Byju’s in the front of the apparel which Indian players will wear going forward.

Byju’s had come on board as the title sponsor of the Indian team jersey in 2019 after Oppo, the Chinese mobile phone manufacturer completed their fulfillment. In June 2022, Byju’s had extended its jersey sponsorship agreement with the Board until November 2023 for an estimated $35 million, but the embattled edtech firm has terminated the agreement in March 2023. 

Byju’s was also one of the sponsors of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The BCCI had floated a tender for the same on June 14 and News18 CricketNext has reliably learned that Dream11 has come on board.

Up until November, Byju's had an optional agreement with the BCCI; however, in March, the company decided to terminate the agreement. Since then, Team India's jersey has been without a sponsor, and they participated in the most recent World Test Championship final at the London Oval without one.

Due to the placing of the logo, the value of the BCCI's prior contract with Byju's, which paid about Rs 5.5 crore for each bilateral match, was reduced to Rs 1.7 crore for an ICC game. The amount of the contract with Dream11 is probably less than what Byju was paying the Indian Cricket Board.

Reports have suggested that Dream11 has bagged the rights for INR 358 crores.

History of Indian team sponsors from the 90s till now

Dream11 had stepped in as title sponsors for the IPL 2020 when Vivo decided to take a break in their IPL title sponsorship deal due to India-China border tensions. Indian cricket team will likely wear their new kits in the upcoming away series against West Indies, starting July 12.

Before Sahara joined and stayed for the longest period, Wills and ITC sponsored the jerseys for almost a decade in the 1990s. Before cricket became a very competitive market and Star India appeared on team jerseys between 2014 and 2017, the group led by Subrata Roy sponsored the jerseys from 2002 to 2013.

The two Chinese phone manufacturing firms OPPO and Vivo then competed against one another for the following cycle, with OPPO outbidding Vivo for the 2017–2022 cycle. The following company to take over midway through OPPO's five-year cycle and sign a deal that runs until November 2022 was ed-tech start-up Byju's.