Cricket is a religion in India, and anything associated with the national team becomes even more special. Companies invest thousands of crores of rupees to have their names on the jerseys of the Indian players. Some even fail to get that opportunity despite splurging a massive sum. For companies, securing the lead sponsorship of the Indian team jersey is a dream, but only a few have managed to achieve it. Interestingly, every company that has held the title sponsorship of the Indian cricket team since 2001 has ended up losing it due to challenging circumstances.
Here is a timeline of how this trend of sponsorship on Team India’s jersey has coincided with the companies’ downfall:
Sahara (2001-2012): The Sahara India Parivar in 2012 announced withdrawing as a sponsor for the Indian cricket team. It was the SEBI action that played an instrumental role in the group’s fallout. Its founder, Subrata Roy, was even arrested in 2014.
Star India (2014-2017): Financial pressure and antitrust scrutiny from the Competition Commission of India got the better of the broadcasting giant. As a result, it too had to lose BCCI’s title sponsorship.
Oppo (2017-2020): What was signed as a massive deal of Rs 1,079 crore by the Chinese smartphone maker company ended quite abruptly during the India-China geopolitical tensions. Poor returns were the reason that forced Oppo to cut its ties with the BCCI.
Byju’s (2020-2022): Consistent losses, defaults in payments, and insolvency petitions led to the downfall of Byju’s. The BCCI too suffered due to that and it eventually had to drag the issue to the National Company Law Tribunal over a Rs 158 crore default.
Dream11 (2023-2025): Days ahead of the Asia Cup 2025, the fantasy sports platform Dream11 decided to back out as the lead sponsor of the Indian cricket team. The development came after the ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025’ became an act. It bans real-money gaming platforms like Dream11.