Indian team jersey switches hands from MPL to clothing brand Killer

As a new look Team India gears up to face Sri Lanka in the first T20I at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday, December 3, it seems that they have even found a new team kit and merchandise sponsor in Killer Jeans which is one of the brands owned by the Kewal Kiran Clothing Limited (KKCL).

According to reports, the Mobile Premier League (MPL) has decided to transfer the Indian cricket team’s jersey sponsorship rights to KKCL and exiting from the deal which had a tenure of one more year.

Team India players pose ahead of Sri Lanka home series

It so happened that ahead of the upcoming home white-ball series against the Islanders, a few of the Indian players including the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar and Ruturaj Gaikwad had posed for a picture. The image was posted by Chahal on his official social media handles.

The players had donned the India jersey with Killer brand logo belonging to KKCL on the right of their chests.

Fantastic five 😎
All set for the T20I series 🇮🇳#TeamIndia | #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/pAWq28wkF7

— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) January 2, 2023

As per reports, MPL sports had sent an email to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on December 2, 2022 requesting a complete transfer of team and merchandising at full value the fashion wear brand KKCL. The BCCI however, has urged MPL to continue its sponsorship agreement at least till March 2023.

MPL had signed a three-year deal with the national cricket board in November 2020 and the validity of the company’s contract is till December 31, 2023. Mobile Premier League had succeeded Nike for this prestigious deal.

As of now, it is unclear why MPL has backed out from this deal as the BCCI during its Apex council meeting had strictly warned against the transfer of sponsorship rights to any other brands till March this year.

Earlier, one of the BCCI’s main sponsors Paytm had also transferred the domestic rights to Mastercard and reportedly, even edtech major BYJU’S is also wishes to end its sponsorship ties with the board well before the validity of their contractual deal ends.