BCCI’s Sponsorship Cursed? The Growing Brand Casualty List Ft. Dream11

Few corporate deals command the kind of visibility, prestige, and emotional connect as becoming the official jersey sponsor of the Indian cricket team. With the sport enjoying godlike status in the country, stadiums packed to capacity, and billions tuning in across TV and streaming platforms, a brand’s logo on Team India’s chest isn’t just an advertising placement — it’s a cultural billboard, a piece of living history.

Yet over the last two decades, a peculiar pattern has emerged. Every brand that has occupied this coveted real estate has eventually found itself engulfed in crises — legal battles, regulatory scrutiny, financial collapse, or reputational decline. From Sahara to Star, Oppo to Byju’s, and now Dream11, the story of India’s jersey sponsors reads less like a marketing success manual and more like a cautionary tale.

The saga raises a haunting question: is sponsoring Team India’s jersey a marketing masterstroke, or a poisoned chalice?

The Latest Storm: Dream11 Faces an Existential Crisis

When Dream11 became the jersey-front sponsor in 2023, it looked like the perfect match. The fantasy-gaming giant had redefined fan engagement in cricket. Users could assemble virtual teams of real players, wager money, and win prizes based on on-field performance. The platform exploded during the IPL boom, making Dream11 India’s first gaming unicorn and a household name.

The jersey sponsorship, worth hundreds of crores, cemented its dominance. With cricket as both the sport and the business model, Dream11 was literally on the players’ chests — a marketer’s dream.

But two years later, the dream is turning nightmarish. On August 21, 2025, Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, banning real-money gaming apps nationwide. Once signed by the President, Dream11’s core business will be illegal in India, wiping out its primary revenue stream.

This comes on the back of a ₹1,200 crore GST demand raised earlier in 2025 for alleged evasion, one notice of which Dream11 successfully fought but fresh scrutiny continues. With revenues under siege and tax battles mounting, the company may not be able to fund its multi-year sponsorship deal with the BCCI through 2026.

For Dream11, a brand built on the intersection of cricket and commerce, losing its legal footing could spell corporate oblivion. For Indian cricket, it’s déjà vu.

A Look Back: The Rise and Fall of Jersey Sponsors

The Dream11 crisis is not unprecedented. Since 2001, every jersey sponsor of the Indian cricket team has seen its empire tested, if not toppled, during or shortly after their tenure.

Sahara (2001–2013): The Empire That Couldn’t Outlast the Courts

The Sahara Group held India’s jersey sponsorship for a record 12 years — the longest run in BCCI history. In its prime, “Sahara India” written across the blue jersey became almost synonymous with Indian cricket.

The partnership symbolized both national pride and corporate power. Sahara invested heavily in cricket, airlines, real estate, and media, projecting itself as an Indian powerhouse.

But beneath the glitter, trouble was brewing. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) accused Sahara of raising nearly ₹24,000 crore through questionable investor schemes. Years of courtroom drama followed, culminating in 2014 with founder Subrata Roy’s arrest for contempt of court.

What began as the most iconic cricket partnership ended as a legal soap opera. Sahara’s cricket sponsorship, once its crown jewel, became a footnote in its spectacular downfall.

Star India (2014–2017): The Broadcaster That Burned Too Bright

When Star India, backed by Disney, replaced Sahara in 2014, it seemed like a logical fit. A broadcaster sponsoring the team it was telecasting — the synergy was irresistible.

Star was at its peak: it owned Indian cricket’s media rights, had turned Hotstar into India’s premier streaming platform, and commanded unmatched reach. For three years, “Star” on India’s jersey reinforced the network’s dominance.

But cracks soon appeared. The Competition Commission of India opened probes into alleged monopolistic practices, questioning whether Star was abusing its stranglehold on cricket rights. Meanwhile, Hotstar struggled to convert soaring traffic into sustainable profits, as rivals like Jio and Amazon Prime Video encroached.

By 2017, the great broadcaster was being swallowed into the Jio-Disney ecosystem, losing its standalone dominance. Star’s jersey sponsorship, once a bold proclamation of media power, became the last gasp of its independent glow.

Oppo (2017–2020): The Smartphone Challenger That Lost Its Signal

In 2017, Chinese smartphone brand Oppo stunned the market by securing the jersey sponsorship with a ₹1,079 crore deal. At the time, Oppo was desperate to dethrone Apple and Samsung in India. What better way to reach every Indian household than to be on the cricketers’ chest?

For a while, it worked. Oppo’s brand visibility skyrocketed, and its sales climbed. But soon, reality intruded.

Oppo found itself in prolonged patent battles with companies like Nokia and InterDigital.
The Indian government’s rising skepticism toward Chinese companies amid border tensions further soured its prospects.
Intense competition from Vivo, Xiaomi, and OnePlus squeezed margins.

By 2020, Oppo quietly withdrew from the deal, handing over the sponsorship to Byju’s. What was meant to be a breakthrough became an expensive detour.

Byju’s (2020–2022): The Edtech Meteor That Crashed to Earth

If Sahara represented longevity, and Oppo represented ambition, Byju’s embodied the pandemic-era startup boom.

In 2020, as millions of children turned to online learning, Byju’s became the world’s most valuable edtech company, peaking at a $22 billion valuation. Sponsoring Team India’s jersey was both a trophy and a marketing funnel, giving the edtech giant unmatched legitimacy.

But the meteoric rise was built on shaky foundations. Aggressive acquisitions, reckless global expansion, and mounting debt eroded the company’s finances.

By 2022:

Byju’s faced insolvency petitions from creditors.
The BCCI dragged it to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) over an unpaid ₹158 crore sponsorship fee.
Valuation plummeted, layoffs mounted, and the once-proud unicorn turned into a cautionary tale of overreach.

For Byju’s, the jersey deal, once a symbol of triumph, became an emblem of hubris.

Dream11 (2023–Present): From Fantasy to Uncertain Reality

And now comes Dream11, whose fantasy sports platform revolutionized how fans consumed cricket. For the first time, the sponsor’s business model was not just connected to cricket — it was cricket.

When Dream11 replaced Byju’s in 2023, it seemed like the perfect alignment: India’s hottest tech brand partnering with India’s most beloved sport.

But the cracks have arrived faster than anyone imagined:

A ₹1,200 crore GST demand notice.
Fresh tax scrutiny in 2025.
And now, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, which bans real-money gaming outright.

If Dream11’s business model is legislated out of existence, the company may not survive long enough to see out its sponsorship deal.

Why Do India’s Jersey Sponsors Keep Falling?

Patterns like these invite theories. Is the jersey sponsor’s curse real, or are these simply coincidences magnified by cricket’s spotlight?

A closer look suggests a few recurring themes:

Overextension and Hubris
Every sponsor entered the deal at its financial or reputational peak. Sahara was a conglomerate, Star was a broadcaster giant, Oppo a rising smartphone player, Byju’s a pandemic unicorn, and Dream11 a fantasy gaming leader. Each believed they could lock their dominance through cricket. Instead, the sponsorship often coincided with their overreach.
Regulatory Hurdles
SEBI for Sahara, CCI for Star, geopolitical scrutiny for Oppo, insolvency courts for Byju’s, tax and legislative bans for Dream11 — the regulators always came knocking. Sponsorship visibility seemed to attract not just fans, but watchdogs.
Unrealistic ROI Expectations
Sponsoring Team India’s jersey is staggeringly expensive. Companies often justified the cost by expecting huge sales or market consolidation. But translating brand visibility into sustainable profit has proven elusive.
The Spotlight Effect
Cricket amplifies everything in India. Success gets celebrated louder, but failure gets scrutinized harsher. Sponsors, by association, become part of every victory — and every controversy.

What Next for BCCI’s Jersey Sponsorship?

The BCCI now faces a familiar question: what happens if Dream11 collapses mid-contract? With the Asia Cup, Champions Trophy, and World T20 cycles approaching, the board needs a stable, deep-pocketed sponsor.

Potential candidates could include:

Tech giants like Amazon, Google, or Jio, with stronger regulatory buffers.
Financial institutions or public-sector brands, seeking stability over glamour.
Or perhaps, a return to traditional FMCG and consumer brands, less vulnerable to sudden policy swings.

But any new sponsor will inherit not just visibility, but the legacy of a strange pattern — a corporate graveyard disguised as a marketing crown.

A Poised Crown, or a Poisoned Chalice?

For over two decades, the sponsor of Team India’s jersey has enjoyed unmatched brand recall. But the logo on the blue shirt has also become a harbinger of turmoil. From Sahara’s scandals to Byju’s collapse, Oppo’s retreat to Dream11’s looming ban, every sponsor has discovered that cricket’s brightest spotlight also casts the darkest shadow.

The curse, whether real or coincidental, is undeniable in its impact. Sponsoring Team India’s jersey remains marketing’s crowning achievement — but it is also, perhaps, a poisoned chalice that exacts a heavy price.

As Dream11 stares at a future without its core business, one thing is certain: the saga of India’s jersey sponsors continues to be as dramatic, unpredictable, and riveting as the cricket it underwrites.

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