Official sponsors of the top ten cricket teams

International cricket and official sponsors are always intertwined with each other. The game is hugely popular and has a massive fan base all over the world. As a result, major businesses are always trying to find a way to associate with the sport and promote their brands.

Let us look at the official kit and shirt sponsors of the top cricketing nations.

1. Indian Cricket Team Official Sponsors

Nike is the official kit supplier for the Indian Cricket Team since 2005. As per the latest info, the contract will continue until 2022. Nike, Inc. is a USA based company that designs and sales footwear, clothes, equipment, and accessories. Its headquarter is in the Portland metropolitan area, near Oregon.

Nike is the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel. Also, it is a major manufacturer of sports equipment. Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight founded the company on January 25, 1964, as Blue Ribbon Sports. Then later officially renamed as Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971.

The name Nike stands for the Greek goddess of victory. Isn’t it an apt name? Additionally, the tagline ‘Just do it’, is just awesome.

Byju’s is the new official cricket team sponsor for India. It has replaced Oppo mobiles and will feature its logo on Indian Team Jersey from September 2019 in the home series against South Africa. Byju’s (Think and Learn Private Ltd) is India’s leading education and learning app. It will be the sponsor of the Indian Team from 5th September 2019 until 31st March 2022.

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2. Australian Cricket Team Official Sponsors

Asics is the official kit supplier for the Australian Cricket team. ASICS is a Japanese multinational corporation. It produces footwear and sports equipment designed for a range of sports. The name is an acronym for the Latin phrase “anima sana in corpore san”. It means “Healthy soul in a healthy body”. Did you know that? I didn’t but I feel it suits the brand.

Cricket Australia has two different shirt sponsors for home and away matches. Alinta Energy is the sponsor for home matches. And Qantas Airways is the sponsor for away matches.

Alinta Energy is an Australian electricity generating and gas retailing private company. Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises own it. Qantas Airways is the flag carrier of Australia. It is the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. Also, It is the third oldest airline in the world, after KLM and Avianca. It was founded in November 1920. Qantas began international passenger flights in May 1935.

3. England Cricket Team Official Sponsors

ECB’s official kit supplier is New Balance, an American MNC based in the Boston, Massachusetts area. The company was founded in 1906. NB is one of the world’s major sports footwear manufacturers.

NatWest is the shirt sponsor for the English cricket team. It is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1968 by the merger of the National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. Hence, the name NatWest. Since 2000, it has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

4. Pakistan Cricket Team Official Sponsors

CA sports is the official kit sponsor for the Pakistan cricket team. CA Sports is a Pakistani sporting good company. It is headquartered in Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1958, CA manufactures and exports sporting goods. The company’s name refers to the first initials of its founder’s name.

Pakistan team’s shirt sponsor is Pepsi, a carbonated drink by PepsiCo. PepsiCo, Inc. is American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation. Its headquarter is in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase.

Everyone knows about Pepsi, I don’t even know why I am describing this. Anyway, let’s see the SA team sponsors. Before we move there, let us appreciate the long-lasting association between Pepsi and PCB. Because Pepsi is their sponsor since the 1990s.

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5. South African Cricket Team Official Sponsors

Cricket SA’s official kit sponsor is New Balance. As given above, the England team has the same kit sponsor.

Cricket SA’s official shirt sponsor is ‘Standard Bank’. The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited is a South African financial services groups. Also, it is Africa’s biggest lender by assets. The company’s corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is in Johannesburg.

[Update: 20 Sept 2019] Indian dairy company Amul joined hands with Cricket South Africa (CSA) as the sponsor for the three-match T20I series in India.

6. New Zealand Cricket Team Official Sponsors

Canterbury is the NZ team’s official kit sponsor since 2010. Canterbury of New Zealand (commonly called just Canterbury) is a UK-based sport clothing company. The company originated from the Canterbury region in New Zealand. The brand has the tagline “Committed To The Game”.

Its logo shows the silhouettes of three Kiwi birds creating the letters CCC. Thus showing the initials of the Canterbury Clothing Company. It also represents the three people who founded the company. Hmm, killed three birds in one stone there! Well done, Canterbury!

NZ team always have had two shirt sponsors. Currently, the sponsor ANZ logo can be seen on the chest region of the team jersey, while the Ford logo is placed on the sleeves. The ‘Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited’, commonly called ANZ, is the third-largest bank by market capitalization in Australia. It operates in 34 other nations as well.

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker. It is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Henry Ford founded the company and incorporated it on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand. In addition to that, it sells most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand.

Ford also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer Troller, an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom, and a 49% stake in Jiangling Motors of China. So that was some new information about one of the oldest car companies.

7. Sri Lanka Cricket Team Official Sponsors

MAS Holdings is the official kit sponsor for the SL cricket team. No specific information was found regarding this on the team’s wiki page or on other sites. But the team’s jersey does have the MAS logo.

MAS Holdings is South Asia’s largest manufacturer of lingerie. Three brothers Mahesh, Sharad and Ajay Amalean founded the company in 1987. Thus deriving its name. MAS Holdings began as an intimate apparel manufacturer and later diversified into sportswear, performance wear, and swimwear.

MAS Holdings is one of Sri Lanka’s largest apparel manufacturers. The company has design and development hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Colombo. Its customers include top brands, for example, Victoria’s Secret, Nike, Lululemon, and PVH. Okay, good to know!

KENT RO Systems is the new main sponsor of the Sri Lankan cricket team for the ICC Cricket World 2019. Kent RO is an Indian water purifier brand, known for its reverse osmosis based water purification products. It has around 40% market share in India and also exports to many countries including Sri Lanka. It also has other products, such as air purifiers, vacuum cleaners, vegetable and fruit purifiers, and water softeners.

Sri Lanka earlier had Ceylon Tea, Dialog Axiata and Huawei as the shirt sponsors. Dialog Axiata is one of Sri Lanka’s largest telecommunications service providers. And it commands 50% of the Sri Lankan mobile market.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. is a Chinese multinational networking, telecommunications equipment, and services company. Its headquarter is in Shenzhen, Guangdong. It is the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, having overtaken Ericsson in 2012. In 2018, Huawei became 72nd of Fortune Global 500 in Fortune Magazine. As of 2018, Huawei is the second-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world behind Samsung.

8. Bangladesh Cricket Team Official Sponsors

BRAC bank is the official kit sponsor of the Bangladesh cricket team, as per Wikipedia. BRAC Bank is a private commercial bank in Bangladesh. It focuses on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).

Unilever, an FMCG company is the Bangladesh team’s official shirt sponsor. Logo of Lifebuoy, a Unilever soap brand, is featured on the team’s jersey. Unilever is a British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company. It is co-headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Its products include food and beverages (about 40 percent of its revenue), cleaning agents and personal care products.

Unilever is one of the oldest multinational companies. Its products are available in around 190 countries. 190 countries? Now that seems to be the mother of all FMCG companies.

9. West Indies Cricket Team Official Sponsors

BLK is the official kit of the WI cricket team since 2018. BLK is a sportswear clothing company. It was established in 2011 in Gold Coast city in Queensland, Australia

Sandals resorts recently became the shirt sponsor for the WI team. It replaced the team’s longtime sponsor Digicel. Sandals Resorts is a Jamaican operator of all-inclusive resorts for couples in the Caribbean.

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10. Afghanistan Cricket Team Official Sponsors

TYKA sports is the kit manufacturer of the Afghanistan Cricket Team. TYKA Sports is a sports outfit brand founded in 2009 by Rajan Kohli in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Amul Dairy is the new sponsor of the Afghanistan Cricket Team. Amul will sponsor the team for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Afghanistan is the fastest rising team in world cricket right now. No wonder, Amul, which had earlier sponsored New Zealand and Holland cricket teams, got interested to sponsor the Afghanistan team.

AMUL is the abbreviation for Anand Milk Union Limited. It is an Indian dairy company, which was first founded in 1946. The union helped farmers financially by removing middlemen and exploitation. Today Amul has grown into a big dairy giant, serving all types of milk products from milk to cheese, from ice cream to sweets.

Amul has a good presence in Afghanistan markets in the form of milk, milk powder, ice cream, and infant food.

Alokozay group was the earlier Afghanistan cricket team’s shirt sponsor. The Alokozay Group of Companies (AGC) is a multinational FMCG company. AGC is producing a diversified range of FMCG products, such as tea, carbonated beverages, evaporated milk, biscuits, cooking oil, tissue paper, detergents, baby care products and a range of other personal care products.

AGC has its headquarters in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. But also has its business beyond UAE in more than 40 countries.

[Update 20 Sept 2019]

Azizi Bank was the main jersey sponsor for Afghanistan’s tour of Bangladesh in September 2019. The tour had a one-off test against hosts and a T20I Tri-series that also featured Zimbabwe.

(Source: Wikipedia and all teams official twitter accounts for updates)

(Last updated: 29 July 2019)

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