Is Being a Brand Ambassador for Team India Turning Into a Curse?
Being a Brand Ambassador for the Indian cricket team is slowly turning out as a curse for the companies. There have been various companies that partnered with the team, but their downfall started soon. Dream11 has also joined the list with the introduction of the Online Gaming Bill.
The Indian Cricket team is the most popular around the world, having the highest brand value among all the other international teams. At this stage, the top companies think of investing in the team and participating as a brand ambassador, which not only helps the BCCI financially but also helps the brand get worldwide attention.
| Brand | Duration |
|---|---|
| Sahara India | 2001–2013 |
| Star India | 2014–2017 |
| OPPO | 2017–2019 |
| Byju’s | 2019–2023 |
| Dream XI | 2023–2025 |
However, fans have started to notice a pattern in the companies that have been Brand ambassadors for the Indian cricket team. Over the last 25 years, the companies that became the team’s Brand Ambassador either got demolished or went bankrupt. Whether it is Sahara or Byju’s, the companies that once ruled their industry are now not seen by the fans anywhere.
Joining this list is Dream11, which became the brand ambassador for the Indian cricket team in 2023. With the latest bill passed by the Indian Government on Online Gaming, this application and its actions were hugely affected, turning out to be a downfall for the same.
Along with that, it should also be noted that the Indian team currently stands without any brand ambassador logo on their jersey as they prepare for the upcoming Asia Cup. The companies surely will be eager to put in high bids for the same, but the downfall faced by previous brands might also scare them. Let’s take a look at the previous brand ambassadors of the Indian Cricket Team and what led to their downfall.
Sahara India
The brand that started the curse for others in the Indian cricket team was Sahara India. It stayed for the longest time as the brand ambassador of the Indian cricket team, from 2001 to 2013, spanning more than a decade. Taking a look at the Indian jersey with Sahara India printed in front could easily provide nostalgia to various cricket fans who might have stopped watching the game.
Under Sahara India, the team went through a transition phase with youngsters taking up the job while senior players also coming close to their retirements. Despite this, the dominance of the Indian team continued across formats, as the team also won the 2007 T20 World Cup, defeating Pakistan in the finals.
Along with that, Sahara India also stayed as the team’s Brand ambassador after its contract expired in 2010, renewing it till 2013. In this extension period, the Indian team also went on to win the 2011 World Cup, ending their World Cup trophy drought of 28 years. When their contract was extended in 2010, the Brand was reportedly paying BCCI 3.34 crore rupees per Test, ODI, and T20I match.
Sahara India didn’t just become a sponsor of the Indian cricket team for business purposes. It was also to connect with the people and create a sense of belongingness. Although Sahara India was the team’s longest-running Brand Ambassador, no one expected this partnership to come to an end in 2013, when Sahara and BCCI had some issues.
It was reported that the BCCI and Sahara India had strained relations and financial disagreements. Sahara India also responded to this situation by saying that the BCCI demanded high costs and was not willing to negotiate, due to which the company pulled off as the Brand Ambassador of the Indian cricket team. At the same time, the company was also dealing with some financial and legal challenges, which made it difficult for them to deal with BCCI.
Star India
Sahara India definitely was the brand ambassador of the team for more than a decade, but the BCCI had to find its replacement when it quit in 2013. For this, the famous Star India came into the picture and became the brand ambassador for the Indian cricket team. Since India had won the World Cup and Champions Trophy, the popularity of the sport grew even more, which helped Star India.
The brand’s Star logo was put on the Indian jersey, giving the brand global recognition and dominating in both sports broadcasting with marketing. Star India remained the brand ambassador of the team from 2014 to 2017, and in this time, the Indian team dominated in both home and away games across all formats.
Despite going through a transition phase, with MS Dhoni handing over the captaincy to Virat Kohli, the team’s dominance was unmatched, especially in the Test format. Even with the team’s key performances in the ICC tournaments, Star India decided to expand its coverage, which was done via Hotstar (now JioHotstar). The company paid 1.92 crore rupees per bilateral match, and only 61 lakh rupees for a match in the ICC tournaments.
With the introduction of Hotstar, Star India received double benefits in cricket, as they were holding the media rights already for all the matches, and they also received brand visibility by being the Brand Ambassador of the team. But this happiness was short-lived for Star India, as it soon became the reason they left as a brand ambassador.
BCCI and Star India had some conflicting interests, as Star India wanted to continue as the team’s brand ambassador and have the broadcasting rights both, which raised questions in the cricket ecosystem. With the new sponsorship cycle coming in 2017, BCCI decided to give the other brands a chance, as the team was receiving high bids from global companies.
OPPO
In 2017, the bidding war started for the brands that wanted to sponsor the Indian cricket team. It was a tough competition between Oppo Mobiles India and Star India, which was won by the mobile phone company for a whopping price of 1079 crore rupees for a five-year deal. It should be noted that this price was double the base price set by the BCCI.
This was a crucial move by Oppo to capture the growing smartphone industry in India, and being the sponsor of the Indian Cricket team came to be the best for them. Their logo was displayed on the front of the Indian team jersey, and they remained the team’s sponsor from 2017 to 2019, even being a part of the Champions Trophy and World Cup.
Oppo surely received a massive exposure under its partnership with the Indian cricket team. The brand paid 4.61 crore rupees to the BCCI for every bilateral match and 1.51 crore rupees for every match to be played in an ICC tournament. Despite receiving such attention from the Indian fans, the deal between Oppo and the BCCI ended in 2019.
The primary reason behind the deal’s termination was given as the financial burden that the brand had while being the sponsor of the Indian cricket team. Some reports also suggested that the long-term deal between Oppo and the Indian team didn’t provide good returns to the brand, due to which they put an end to the sponsorship deal.
Byju’s
When the deal between Oppo and the Indian cricket team came to an end, earlier than the contract, the deal was reassigned to Byju’s. This Brand was once an education giant, and fans started to see it as a great initiative to boost India’s education sector. Byju’s was the brand ambassador of the Indian team from 2019 to 2023.
Upon the reassignment, the company had to pay an additional 5% fee than what was being paid by Oppo Mobiles India earlier. This sponsorship deal aligned perfectly with the vision of Byju’s to become a global education leader. But little did they know it would turn out to be a trap for an unwanted curse.
From 2019 to 2023, India went on various international tours, whether it was England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and many more. Byju’s thought that they would receive global recognition, as this time the Indian team also attracted several viewers. But by 2022 and 2023, the company faced a number of challenges that contributed to its downfall.
With the global economic shutdowns, rising costs, and issues with financial management, the company went through a tough phase. It was out of the question for them to renew the sponsorship deal with the BCCI, as it required a lot of resources, at a time when the company had accumulated thousands of crores in debt.
Dream11
Dream11 became the official sponsor for the Indian cricket team after its deal with Byju’s ended in 2023. The company signed a three-year contract with the BCCI, and found it a great opportunity to promote itself as a fantasy sports platform for the Indian users. This deal was signed for an impressive total of 358 crore rupees, where 3 crore rupees were paid for home games and 1 crore for away games.
As a platform, Dream11 received commendable growth in this phase, as more and more players decided to participate in the events conducted by the same. Along with that, it even increased spending on advertisements, having players and actors in their ads, such as Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Ranveer Singh, Aamir Khan, and more.
India dominated across the ICC tournaments under Dream11, reaching the finals of the 2023 World Cup, and winning the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy consecutively. But this deal came to an end in August 2025, after Dream11 decided to pull off ahead of the Asia Cup. This decision was taken due to the Online Gaming Bill passed by the Parliament, which imposed bans on fantasy apps, where Dream11 was a prominent leader.
Taking a look at the decision taken by the Indian government, the brand also discontinued its paid contests and eventually called off its deal with the Indian cricket team. It should be noted that Dream11 was not just having a sponsorship deal with the Indian team, but it also partnered with various teams in the IPL, and now it stands as an app with just free concerts.
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