MUMBAI: Well, what do you know. After a one-season hiatus, Chinese smartphone major VIVO is back as title sponsor for Indian Premier League 2021.
IPL governing council chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed on Thursday that VIVO would indeed be the title sponsor for IPL 2021.
The way was paved for the Board of Control for Cricket in India to re-engage with VIVO (without attracting the ire of India’s trigger-happy troll armies), following the “phased, coordinated and verified” disengagement by Indian and Chinese troops on the border. The Indian Army on Tuesday released video clips and photographs of Chinese troops withdrawing from the Pangong Tso area. Indian media reports said the visuals were from the north bank of the Pangong Tso, and the Kailash Range area on the lake’s south bank.
Coming back to the VIVO title sponsorship, the border tensions last year had forced the BCCI to announce that the Chinese firm’s Indian arm would not be the title sponsor for the IPL’s 2020 edition, which was played in the United Arab Emirates from September 19 to November 10.
“The BCCI and Vivo Mobile India Pvt. Ltd. have decided to suspend their partnership for the Indian Premier League in 2020,” the BCCI had then said in an unsigned media release.
A statement by the mobile phone manufacturer said both parties “have mutually decided to pause (emphasis ours) their partnership for the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League”.
Vivo, which replaced Pepsi as the title sponsor in 2016, had signed a five-season deal from 2018 to 2022 worth a whopping Rs 4.4 billion per edition.
For the 2020 edition, Indian fantasy sports major Dream11 had picked up the title rights for Rs 2.22 billion.
