As the Indian Premier League comes closer, a lot of developments have started happening. Some teams are announcing their coaches, some are officially clearing up the name of the captain. And so, the BCCI and the IPL governing council are not far behind. They have announced their sponsors yesterday.
Indian Premier League (IPL) has added Paytm the mobile wallet brand as the on-ground sponsors for the Official Umpire Partner for the duration of next five years.
Paytm has been the title sponsor of all of Indian international and domestic cricket for a while and the relationship will now extend the IPL as well. Paytm is likely to be seen on the front & back of umpire”s shirt while umpiring in the games.
CEAT Tyres as well as extended their partnership for the strategic time out for the IPL. CEAT has been a long-standing sponsor for a long time now for the timeouts. The commentators have always referred to it as the “CEAT Tyres strategic time out” and this will continue for the next five years.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in January had called for the applicant to three kinds of commercial partners – official partner, strategic time-out partner, and umpire partner.
Rajiv Shukla, the Chairman of the IPL governing council was quoted, “Paytm are currently the Title Sponsors of India Cricket and the relationship has now been extended to the IPL. Both Paytm and BCCI share a strong bond and we will continue to provide great value to Paytm.”
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder, and CEO of Paytm said on the occasion, “We are delighted to be the IPL Umpire Partner for the next five years. Cricket has been a key element in Paytm”s brand journey and it has worked brilliantly for our young brand. In addition to IPL, we are also the Title sponsor for India cricket for the last few years. We had a great relationship with the BCCI, and our investment in IPL further reaffirms our commitment to this wonderful sport.”
