MUMBAI: India cricket kit sponsor Nike is facing the heat after Indian players reportedly complained to the BCCI about the “sub-standard clothing” being provided to them.
According to a report in the Indian Express, BCCI chief executive officer Rahul Johri and general manager Game Development Ratnakar Shetty have both raised the issue with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA).
“It (Nike’s clothing) has come up for discussion in last CoA meeting and chairman CoA (Vinod Rai) took it very strongly. The team cannot have sub-standard kits and we will be engaging with Nike and he has asked to put our case strongly. We have to engage with them, we will have a meeting with them (Nike) next week and try to resolve it at earliest,” Johri told the daily.
Nike has been associated with Indian cricket team since 2006 when it became the official kit sponsor. In 2016 it paid approximately Rs3.7 billion to be the Indian team kit sponsor till 2020. The contract, which kicked off on 1 January 2016, runs through till 30 September 2020 — and the sportswear giant pays Rs8,734,000 per match to the Indian board as sponsorship fees.
