Indian tyre manufacturer CEAT has agreed a three-year sponsorship deal with Twenty20 cricket competition the Indian Premier League.
The agreement, which will run across the 2015 to 2017 seasons of the IPL, is yet to be formally announced, but the India Today website, citing a top Board of Control for Cricket in India official, said it was ratified at a recent IPL governing council meeting.
CEAT will join the IPL as a partner of the strategic time outs used during games. The BCCI official said the deal is worth Rs315m (€4.5m/$5.1m).
In 2010, mobile handset manufacturer Maxx signed a deal to serve as a partner of the strategic timeouts for three years, but pulled out of the agreement in 2011.
The IPL currently employs four strategic timeouts of two-and-a-half minutes during games. The timeouts have been without a sponsor since Maxx’s withdrawal.