2022 has already turned out to be a great year for #IPL. It's been raining sponsorships.
For the first time in 15 years, IPL has sold all its sponsorship slots. Collectively, close to Rs 1000 cr has come in.
Saudi oil company Aramco has bagged rights to Orange & Purple Caps.
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Aramco is paying Rs 65 cr / yr as part of the deal.
Last week, financial services company Rupay signed up to pay Rs 75 cr / yr for a two-yr-deal as official partner.
Last month, Swiggy had come in at around Rs 65 cr / yr.
Dream11, Unacademy, Cred & Upstox already on board.
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Prior to that Tatas came in as title sponsors and replaced Vivo.
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And to think of it, the media rights are yet to go on sale. When that happens, IPL will see a collective windfall of close to Rs 50,000 cr (approx US$6.3 billion).
Yep you heard that right.
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It was a line he greeted every second person with when in India for the IPL. Shane Warne knew everybody, and everybody knew Shane Warne here.
India had become home after he became IPL's first buy in 2008. (1/25)
Greetings exchanged; he’d talk you into a corner wherever he could light up. The longer you stayed in conversation, the more he’d keep lighting up. I’ve not seen anyone smoke that vigorously. Not even SRK.
Chatting him up, though, was always great fun. (2/25)
It was party night at a South Mumbai five-star in 2019. Shane’s hosts had invited me for an evening with the man – just a casual get-together. I walked up, walked in, met him, and shook hands. “How ya doin mate? Good to see ya…”
I wanted to do a thread on my interactions with Shane Warne. Will do one but before that, something more imp needs to be shared right now.
Here’s a #thread on #BCCI and the current media reports of a BCCI official attending selection committee meetings.
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Chief selector Chetan Sharma should now come out on record and speak if any individual sat unconstitutionally in team selection meetings. In fact, he should add whether or not the selectors felt intimidated by someone’s presence. I know for sure they were not ‘comfortable’.
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For the record, no office-bearers of the BCCI – other than secretary, who convenes meetings – are supposed to sit in selection committee meetings. I don’t think anyone would’ve dared do this if the likes of Amarnath, Vengsarkar, Srikkanth, Patil were chairing the committee.
Let me begin with a flashback. The year is 2014. India lose 1-3 in England & land in Australia three months later. Another challenge beckons. MS Dhoni is under pressure. A change in captaincy is round the corner. (1/25)
There’s little doubt who the next captain is going to be. He’s just turned 26. The Aussies hate His guts (rather, love to hate His guts). He loves how they hate Him. He makes statements, stands up for His team, picks up fights for the team, scores tons. (2/25)
A tiger is marking territory. The pugmarks are all over. “They were calling me a spoilt brat. I know you guys hate me. I like that,” He says.
They hate Him all the more.
Go you YouTube and search for His press conference from 2015 Jan. It's a classic! (3/25)
Yesterday I shared the start & end date of IPL-2022. Must say I was a little surprised with some reverts. “74 games too many”, “1/6th of the year”, “Boring”, “jarring”, so on.
Really? Not quite. Let explain. (1/25)
Modern-day cricket, like any sport, has essentially stood on three pillars: 1) those who play it, 2) those who watch it, 3) those who administer & finance it.
The fourth pillar is of the thinking minds. Those who speak for the game and protect its identity & uniqueness. (2/25)
Here’s where I believe cricket has changed: The three pillars of the game I mentioned have steadfastly moved in one direction, at least the majority of them, for better or worse (that’s for another day).
And the fourth pillar has shown little interest in catching up. (3/25)
Let’s take a break from cricket and look at India’s other sports aspirations. A big development took place today – Mrs Nita Ambani made a presentation at IOC to host the 2023 ‘Session’ in Mumbai. It was accepted unanimously.
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Indian Olympic Assn (IOA) president Narinder Batra, Youth Affairs & Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and India’s first-ever individual Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra were part of the Indian delegation with Mrs Ambani.
India last hosted an Olympic session in 1983.
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Royals, academicians, former sportsmen and women, corporate leaders, and more – the members who participate in an Olympic session make for a very unique set. The decisions taken at an Olympic session are considered final. Mumbai will host the session in May-June 2023.