Cricket Australia (CA) has asked IPL franchises to refrain from using Australian players for advertisements related to betting promotion, fast food, alcohol, and tobacco brands. Moreover, the board has also restricted the teams from using more than one player from a Big Bash League (BBL) side and a state team for advertising campaigns. BCCI’s recent advisory to the IPL franchises has revealed these directives.
According to Cricbuzz, the advisory quotes CA and says, “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.”
Regarding the player restriction rule, the directive states, “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.”
Basically, a team can use three Australian players in any advertising material as long as no more than one has a Central Contract and all three are from different States and Big Bash teams.
Earlier this month, CA announced that every Australian player will have to take a NOC from the cricket board to participate in the T20 tournament. Australia will be very well represented in IPL 2021 as 19 players across eight teams will be playing in the tournament.
| Glenn Maxwell | Steven Smith |
| Jhye Richardson | Nathan Coulter-Nile |
| Rilie Meredith | Ben Cutting |
| Moises Henriques | Dan Christian |
| Josh Hazlewood | Marcus Stoinis |
| Pat Cummins | Chris Lynn |
| Kane Richardson | Adam Zampa |
| Daniel Sams | Josh Philippe |
| Andrew Tye | David Warner |
| Mitchell Marsh |
In the recent auction, some of these players received lucrative deals. Glenn Maxwell and Jhye Richardson emerged as the most expensive Australian players, with their respective deals of Rs 14.25 crores from RCB and Rs 14 crores from Punjab Kings. Aaron Finch, Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne, and Shaun Marsh were few other high profile Australian players that went unsold during auction.