After more than three months since playing a white ball series, India is set to get back in action against Sri Lanka in July. With the Indian team ready to depart for Sri Lanka this week, the title sponsors for the two series have been finalised. According to InsideSport, Unacademy has bagged rights for the ODI series, while CoinDCX has clinched the deal for the T-20 series. This report also confirms that Dream11 and Skoda will be part of the sponsors’ list of this series.
Since the upcoming series against Sri Lanka will be the last white ball competition for India before the T-20 World Cup in October, there will be special attention on few players with World Cup selection in the mind. BCCI has sent a second-string team with Shikhar Dhawan as captain since Virat Kohli and other key players are in the United Kingdom for the five-match test series. From the sponsors’ point of view, Unacademy and CoinDCX will be looking to maximise this series since there is no white-ball cricket for Team India in the near future.
Unacademy has been actively working in cricket to enhance their brand value for a long time. The Edu-tech firm has been one of the key partners of IPL in the last two years. Considering the Indian team will be playing white-ball cricket after a long time, Unacademy will be getting good reach during this series.
Unacademy and Byju go toe to toe in same series
During the white ball series between Sri Lanka and India, two edutech firms will be locking horns. Byju’s will be seen on the shirt of Indian team, while Unacademy will be title sponsor of the series. The two Edutech firms also competed for title rights of IPL 2020, but Dream11 eventually came up with a bigger bid of Rs 222 crores.
Both firms have clearly identified cricket as the area of investment to promote the brand and reach a wider audience. They have also made a significant investment in IPL sponsorship. Byju’s has also been one of the advertising sponsors during the broadcast of IPL in the last two seasons. Unacademy was also the title of the sponsor of the Road Safety Series that was complete in India this year.
CoinDCX joins other cryptocurrency firms to invest in cricket sponsorship deals
CoinDCX is an Indian-based cryptocurrency firm that will be looking to promote the brand during the T-20 series between India and Sri Lanka. CoinDCX’s most recent involvement in cricket-related activity was during IPL 2021 as they were one of the key sponsors for ESPNcricinfo’s T-20 Timeout show. CoinDCX had also signed up as sponsor of ICC World Test Championship Final that was streamed on Hotstar between June 18 and June 23. Considering the popularity of Cryptocurrency in the current financial climate, CoinDCX will be able to expand their reach by investing in cricket that will involve the Indian team.
Along with CoinDCX, other cryptocurrency firms have been exploring digital space during sporting events to promote themselves. WazirX has been the digital streaming sponsor on SonyLiv for Euro 2020. They will also feature on the platform in the upcoming sporting events such as Olympics, Cricket series involving India and Sri Lanka, and India’s tour of England. Moreover, CoinSwitch Kuber also entered the cricket arena by signing digital sponsorship deal of IPL.
Apart from Edutech firms and cryptocurrency partners, there is intense competition for sponsorship deals involving the Indian team. Skoda, Hyundai, and Dream11 are other brands that have dominated sponsorship deals with BCCI in the automobile and fantasy sections, respectively. As the Indian cricket team continues to develop bigger commercial value, more sponsors are likely to compete for deals. Apart from the Indian team, the next cycle of ICC events will be taking place in a short time, more sponsorship deals are likely to be signed with ICC.