BCCI's decision to retain Chinese sponsors for IPL 2020 raises a storm

Tags: IPL 2020

Published on: Aug 03, 2020

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 has been officially announced. The cash-rich league will take place from September 19 to November 10. However, the bigger talking point has been BCCI's decision to retain the Chinese sponsors for the tournament despite the recent souring of relations between the two countries owing to the Galwan Valley clash.

The controversial decision was taken during the IPL Governing Council meeting via a video-conference on Sunday. The move though will require approval from the Indian government. The BCCI was widely expected to shun Chinese sponsors for the event in the wake of 20 soldiers being killed in a clash between Indian and Chinese forces in June.

Explaining the decision though, a governing council member told The Indian Express, “We don’t have the time to make any changes at this moment."

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo is the title sponsor of IPL 2020 and Paytm umpire partner. Online fantasy league partner Dream 11 and associate partner Swiggy are also connected to Chinese Internet giant Tencent.

While IPL has decided to retain Chinese sponsors, many Indian cricketers who will be featuring in the event had earlier vocally supported the Indian government's decision to ban Chinese apps in the wake of the killing of 20 Indian soldiers.

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had said that IPL does not need a Chinese sponsor. “In the absence of Chinese sponsors, there could be many others. We have to decide whether the IPL is bigger or the brand. IPL doesn’t need any brand, IPL in itself is a big brand,” he had told The Sportstar.

In the same statement, the veteran cricketer had also added that a country attacking Indian soldiers should not run on Indian money. “If we want to be self-reliant, [the boycott of Chinese goods] is probably the right thing. Everything can be made in India. We have a lot of capabilities. If we want to ban Chinese goods, we should," he added.

Suresh Raina, on the other hand, had hit out at China, stating it doesn't deserve anything from India. "My family background is from the army, I can tell you that the life of soldiers is not easy. China doesn't deserve anything from India, it doesn't matter if we don't use Chinese products," he was quoted as saying in an ANI report.

Meanwhile, fans took to Twitter and expressed their disapproval of BCCI's decision to continue with Chinese sponsors.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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