In a letter to the BCCI, Cricket Australia has urged the Indian cricket board to use a minimum number of Australian players in any television advertisements for the upcoming IPL season. A recent advisory from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the IPL franchises says quoting the CA, “a full team photo – for use only by the sponsors of the relevant IPL team in print media in India and any such photo should not involve or include the name or branding of a company primarily engaged in the business of alcohol, fast food/fast-food restaurants, tobacco or betting.”

The mail sent by Cricket Australia to the BCCI has specific pointers and set guidelines as to how many Australian players can be used for one ad during the IPL campaign.

Cricket Australia’s Brief To BCCI

“Cricket Australia has imposed the following restrictions on Franchisees’ use of Australian players in advertising and/or promotional materials: In any specific advertising or promotional activity featuring any Australian player (in any medium including TV, radio, press, outdoor, internet, point of sales or on-pack advertising), each Franchisee may only use:

(a) no more than 1 Player who has a Central Contract with Cricket Australia; and/or

(b) no more than 1 Australian Player from the same Australian State; and (c) no more than 1 Australian Player from the same Big Bash team…”

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Meanwhile, the franchisees are wondering why the BCCI has agreed to the terms and conditions of Cricket Australia especially with the league having a betting and liquor companies as its chief sponsors. On the other hand, a franchise official has clarified the stand of all the franchisees on this matter.

“That is not a major issue because alcohol, betting and tobacco brandings don’t happen in India anyway but the BCCI, in principle, should not accept such conditions,” said a franchise official. Meanwhile, another franchise official said the reason behind the thought process from CA was to rule out any competition from another country to their own brands and sponsors.

The IPL 2021 will see a total of 19 players from Australia ply their trade for different franchises this season. Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Rilie Meredith, Ben Cutting, Moises Henriques, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Chris Lynn, Adam Zampa, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Josh Philippe, Andrew Tye, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh will play for different teams in the season.

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