Dream11 as IPL title sponsor will shatter PM Modi’s ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ dream

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The Indian Premier League (IPL) found its title sponsor for the 2020 season as fantasy sports platform Dream11 bagged the rights with an INR 222 crore bid for this season. The deal has had its fair share of criticism because of Dream11’s part-Chinese ownership. Though the brand has claimed itself to be ‘all Indian’, Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) secretary Aditya Verma feels the entire association is against PM Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’.

It was the Chinese mobile-maker, VIVO, that held the title sponsorship deal of IPL in a whopping INR 440 crore per year deal. But the brand had to back out after seeing the rising anti-China sentiments in India that led to many calling for Chinese products and services to be boycotted. 

With the title sponsor’s position open, multiple brands showed interest including the likes of Byju’s, Unacademy, Tata Sons, Patanjali and Reliance Jio but it was Dream11 who finally won the contract. Though the deal came at half the cost of what BCCI had with VIVO, many reckoned it as a good deal for the Indian board considering the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the revenue stream seems to be sorted for the BCCI, Verma doesn’t feel the deal is in sync with the Prime Minister’s dream of having an ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’.

“As a well-wisher of Indian sports, I wish and pray that IPL 13 is held successfully in the UAE. However, with Dream11 becoming the title sponsor of IPL, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ will be a bit shattered as Dream11 is a Chinese company. It has also come to fore that the company has a huge investment in one of the IPL franchises”.