Dream XI getting IPL sponsorship will shatter PM Modi’s dream of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat': Aditya Verma

On Tuesday, August 18, Dream XI became the title sponsors for the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), bagging a deal of INR 222 crores. It left behind the likes of Unacademy and Byju’s to bag the sponsorship. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was earlier in a fix after VIVO, a Chinese mobile brand, backed out from being the sponsors ahead of the upcoming season.

Earlier, VIVO had bagged the IPL rights for five years in 2017 for INR 2,199 crores with a pay of around INR 440 crores every season. India and China have been at loggerheads over the past few weeks due to the cross-border tensions between the two Asian countries. India soldiers lost their lives and the government then banned 59 Chinese applications, including Tik-Tok and Helo.

Aditya Verma opens up on IPL sponsorship

In the meantime, Aditya Verma, the secretary of Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), said that being a Chinese company, Dream XI ending as the sponsors shatters Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of bringing in self-dependency. He put forth his opinions as per reports in News 18.

“As a well-wisher of Indian sports, I wish and pray that IPL 13 is held successfully in the UAE. However, with Dream11 becoming the title sponsor of IPL, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ will be a bit shattered as Dream11 is a Chinese company. It has also come to fore that the company has a huge investment in one of the IPL franchises,” Verma said.

The 2020 IPL is scheduled to get underway on September 19 with the final to take place on November 10. The tournament was set to take place in India, but had to be moved to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“IPL 2020 will be played from September 19 and the final will be played on November 10, 2020. The 53-day tournament will witness 10-afternoon matches starting at 15:30 IST while the evening matches will start at 19:30 IST,” the BCCI said last week. Teams and franchises have already started their preparations with a month left for the tournament.