The Indian division of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo has today (Tuesday) been named as the new main sponsor of India’s national cricket team.
Oppo’s five-year deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India begins in April and will run until 2022.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Indian newspaper The Hindu, citing a BCCI source, said the amount Oppo will pay the body represents an all-time high.
The BCCI had set a base price of Rs22m (€310,000/$329,000) per game for all bilateral matches and Rs7m for every International Cricket Council tournament match India features in through to March 2022.
Oppo will replace media group Star India as the national team’s main sponsor. Star’s chairman and chief executive, Uday Shankar, last month confirmed that the company would not bid to retain shirt sponsorship rights amid the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the BCCI’s relationship with the ICC.
Star first partnered with the BCCI in January 2014. Its deal, which expires at the end of the month and encompasses rights to all BCCI, Asian Cricket Council and ICC events, is reportedly worth Rs19.2m per game.
Oppo has a strong background in cricket sponsorship. The ICC entered into a global partnership with the company in December 2015. Oppo was named a global partner of the sport’s world governing body under a four-year deal which will run from 2016 until 2020.