Team India's jersey sponsors Chinese mobile-maker OPPO is reportedly going to part ways with the Men in Blue as Bangalore-based education technology and online tutoring firm Byju's will take over the jerseys rights, as reported by the Times of India. The name of the Chinese mobile company which bought the jersey rights in March 2017 with a whopping winning bid of Rs 1,079 crore, will no longer feature on the Team India jersey from the month of September.
As per TOI reports, OPPO decided to discontinue the deal and gave it to Byju's because they have found the sum of money to be very high and also unsustainable.
Byju's, currently valued at Rs 38,000 crore was started in 2013 by Kerala-based entrepreneur Byju Raveendran and in the present financial year, they have ensured funding of around Rs 5,172 crore from global investors which include Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative. They have been also looking for branding excercises of such a huge volume so it fits them perfectly, sources told TOI.
"They've been looking for branding exercises of this volume and it's (Team India jersey rights) is just the kind of space they wanted to get into. At the moment they fit absolutely well here," said sources.
BCCI will receive the same sum of money from Byju's and will not incur any loss for the deal till it ends on March 31, 2022, according to a BCCI source. The South Africa tour will feature the Indian team sporting the national team jersey with Byju's name on it and the work of changing the jersey is already on, sources mentioned.
"Basically, what Oppo has done is cut its losses. They've reassigned the rights to Byju's. They will pay Byju's a minor amount to help make the full payment while Byju's will pay BCCI. The board will continue to get what is due to it," sources told TOI.
The Men in Blue are going to face West Indies in the Caribbeans for three ODIs and T20s and two Tests. The Test series will be a part of ICC's World Test Championship.
