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Tag: Rajeev Shukla

  • BCCI strengthens IPL ACU, appoints Ajit Singh as head

    BCCI strengthens IPL ACU, appoints Ajit Singh as head

    MUMBAI: In a bid to further beef up anti-corruption initiatives during IPL, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed retired top cop Ajit Singh as head of its Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). A 1982 Rajasthan cadre officer, Singh retired as director-general of police, Rajasthan in November 2017.

    Singh will take charge ahead of 2018 season of IPL and will be based out of BCCI headquarters at Cricket Centre, Mumbai. The ACU would look to strengthen its hold on the game to protect its image from getting tarnished further.

    IPL has been rocked by controversies from time to time, including allegations of match-fixing, spot- fixing and other such non-gentlemanly activities. Two teams, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, make a return to IPL’s 2018 edition after a two-year suspension on grounds of irregularities involving individual players and team management.

    IPL apart, the game of cricket was recently rocked by the ball tampering affair in the ongoing Australia-South Africa series where several Aussie players were accused of tampering with the ball in the last test match, throwing not only cricket in general but also cricket Australia into crisis.

    Aussie captain and vice captain Steve Smith and David Warner, respectively, have been banned for 12 months from playing any international cricket, while batsman Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months. All three players have apologised and accepted responsibility in an emotional press conferences after being kicked off the tour and returning home last week. BCCI on 28 March 2018 banned Smith and Warner from this year’s IPL.

    Meanwhile, former police commissioner of Delhi Neeraj Kumar has been retained as advisor to ACU of IPL till 31 May 2018.

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    The BCCI India rights conundrum

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  • Tata Motors signs three-year IPL deal with BCCI

    Tata Motors signs three-year IPL deal with BCCI

    MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) yesterday announced its three-year association with Tata Motors as the official partner for the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL).

    While brands now have started looking beyond cricket to spend advertising money, cricket continues to remain the favourite for every marketer across India with the IPL being the first preference. The BCCI had earlier announced Ceat Tyres as the strategic timeout partner and PayTM as the umpire partners for IPL 2018.

    The car manufacturer’s Tata Nexon will drive in to occupy the space vacated by Maruti Suzuki, which decided to snap its ties with the IPL after having displayed Vitara Brezzas at IPL venues for two years. Maruti, in 2016, had signed a two-year deal with the BCCI to be an on-ground sponsor for the T20 league.

    The matches will witness engagement activities such as the Tata Nexon Super Striker, wherein the best striker of the match/tournament will stand a chance to win daily and season awards including a Tata Nexon for the striker of the tournament. 

    Among other plans will be Tata Nexon Fan Catch, wherein anyone who takes a single-handed catch in a match stands a chance to win Rs 1 lakh and the season winner gets a Nexon. Tata Nexon will also leverage the 36 city Fan Park events for experiential and engaging brand experience. 

    Tata Motors president passenger vehicle business unit Mayank Pareek said, “We are delighted to have our ‘level nex’ performing brand Tata Nexon be associated with IPL, one of the biggest sporting event in the country that gives brands a very effective, large scale platform to connect with its consumers. Cricket is the most celebrated sport in India and the IPL is all about superlative performance, which is also the mantra for the Tata Nexon.”

    Although this is the first time Tata Motors is investing in IPL on a huge scale, the company’s head of marketing for passenger vehicles business Vivek Srivatsa mentions that Tata Motors has always had sports in its DNA. Back in the day, Tata Motors founder Jamshedji Tata was a sports enthusiast and promoted football and other sports in India. 

    Srivatsa added, “Today, we are highly interested in sporting events and with IPL being the biggest sporting property in India, it was only natural for us to associate with the league and we want to get deeply involved.”

    The brand will also see a lot of on-ground in-stadium activities which will be its core focus. Additionally, Tata Motors dealership stores will also see heavy promotions of the IPL and will run various contests for customers. A dedicated TVC campaign will be rolled out in April.

    The synergy between a vehicle manufacturer and cricket may seem rather odd but Srivatsa is of the opinion that sports are taking centre stage for brands today. “Today sports are as important as academics in schools and with the government’s support sports will become a culture in itself,” he said.

    Recently launched Tata Nexon has sold close to 20,000 units in the first six months. Associating with cricket or any other event eventually leads to sale and revenue for the brand and Srivatsa unhesitatingly added that although Nexon has received a positive response from customers so far, the company wants to make it the most popular passenger vehicle in every pocket of the country. He added that normal TVC and advertising only helps you reach metros and certain segments of the audience but cricket has a deep reach and Tata wants to use IPL to go deep in these markets which will eventually result in sales.

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    Paytm is the official ticketing partner of Kings XI Punjab’s home games for VIVO IPL 2018

    YuppTV to stream IPL 2018 in several international markets

  • Paytm signs up as the official umpire partner for VIVO IPL for the next 5 Years

    Paytm signs up as the official umpire partner for VIVO IPL for the next 5 Years

    MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today announced its association with Paytm as the Official Umpire Partner of the VIVO Indian Premier League for the next five years.  Paytm is also the Title Sponsor of India Cricket. 

    Speaking on the development, Chairman of the IPL, Mr. Rajeev Shukla said, “Paytm are presently the Title Sponsors of India Cricket and the relationship has now been extended to the IPL. Both Paytm and BCCI share a strong bond and we will continue to provide great value to Paytm.”

    Paytm of Founder and CEO, Mr. Vijay Shekhar Sharma said,  “We are delighted to be the IPL Umpire Partner for the next five years. Cricket has been a key element in Paytm’s brand journey and it has worked brilliantly for our young brand. In addition to IPL, we are also the Title sponsor for India cricket for the last few years. We had a great relationship with the BCCI, and our investment in IPL further reaffirms our commitment to this wonderful sport.”

    Paytm offers a wide range of online and offline payment use-cases including mobile recharges,utility bill payments, movie ticketing as well as travel bookings among others. Paytm pioneered QR-based payments in the country, allowing millions of small merchants to accept payments using their smartphones. Paytm QR now enables its merchant partners to accept Paytm & UPI payments directly into their bank accounts at no charges, as it aims at extending its support to all major payments instruments and help them grow their, business. 

  • Star India gets IPL to change match timings for 11th edition

    Star India gets IPL to change match timings for 11th edition

    MUMBAI: When Star India announced that it was coughing up a jaw dropping Rs 16,347.50 crore to acquire the all media rights of the prized IPL, it signaled an era of change. And more of that is coming. Star India  has managed to convince the The IPL governing council (GC) to change the timings for the games for the eleventh season of the league being held from 7 April to 27 May. The IPL opening ceremony will take place in Mumbai on 6 April.

    IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla confirmed to Indiantelevision.com that the 8 pm game will now begin at 7 pm while the 4 pm game was being pushed forward to 5:30 pm.

    “The broadcaster has requested for a change in timings. By and large, the GC has accepted it. It gets too late in the night if the game starts at 8 pm,” said IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla after the GC meeting. “There will be an overlap but the broadcaster says it has enough channels to show the games simultaneously.”

    At the meeting, it was also decided that Kings XI Punjab will play four of their home games in Mohali and three in Indore.

    The home matches of Rajasthan Royals, who are returning to the IPL after serving a two-year ban, will be finalised after the Rajasthan High Court’s hearing on 24 January. Preference will be given to Jaipur if the stadium is ready and court clears RCA’s status.

    “If that doesn’t happen, the alternate venue will be Pune,” said Shukla. A total of 578 players including 360 Indians will go under the hammer at the IPL auction in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28.

    Also Read :

    Star ushers in IPL’s new era with a bang

    578 players to go under the hammer for IPL auction

    BCCI invites brands to acquire third-party rights for IPL

  • 578 players to go under the hammer for IPL auction

    578 players to go under the hammer for IPL auction

    MUMBAI: The much-anticipated VIVO IPL 2018 player auction list is out with 578 players up for grabs. This big pool of cricketers, which comprises 360 Indians, will go under the hammer in Bengaluru on 27 and 28 January, 2018.

    A total of 62 capped Indians and 298 uncapped Indian cricketers will vie for the available slots with 182 capped overseas cricketers, 34 uncapped overseas players and two cricketers from associate nations, according to a BCCI release.

    With Rs 2 crore as the highest reserve price, 36 players, including 13 Indians, have opted for the top bracket.  Marquee Players R Ashwin, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Christopher Gayle, Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson, Glenn Maxwell, Joe Root, Mitchell Starc, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Shakib Hasan–each priced at Rs 2 crore–will set the tone as an intense battle is set to follow.

    M Vijay, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Yuzvendra Chahal and Karn Sharma have also set their base price at Rs 2 crore and will hope to attract high bids as the eight franchises look to build their teams for the upcoming seasons.

    The below list contains the individual breakdown of capped players as per their base price.

    public://list_1.jpg
    The breakdown of uncapped players as per their base price is as below.

    public://list1.jpg

    IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said, “A lot of strategising and number-crunching is involved before a cricketer is picked at the VIVO IPL Player Auction. The dynamic nature of the auction makes it unpredictable and exciting. The eight franchises have given us an indication of what their core would be with their Player Retentions and the VIVO IPL 2018 Player Auction will be an important step towards the creation of a successful team. The marquee list is full of star players, but I am also looking forward to the uncapped Indian players who have proved their mettle in the earlier editions of the VIVO IPL and are sure to attract high bids.”

    The complete list of VIVO IPL 2018 Player Auction is here: http://www.iplt20.com/news/113978/vivo-ipl-2018-player-auction-list-announced

    Also Read:

    Star ushers in IPL’s new era with a bang

    Star and BCCI pull out all stops to make the VIVO IPL 2018 Retention event – an unprecedented success

    BCCI invites brands to acquire third-party rights for IPL

    IPL 2018: Virat Kohli retained by RCB for Rs 17 crore

  • IPL chief Shukla recuses from ‘live-streaming’ media rights auction

    IPL chief Shukla recuses from ‘live-streaming’ media rights auction

    MUMBAI: The BCCI has planned to live-stream the bidding process for awarding media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights on 4 September. Although an appeal by Rajya Sabha MP Subramanium Swamy’s for e-auction was struck down by the Supreme Court, this seems to be ‘transparent’ part of the process, which will bring in Rs 200 billion for BCCI in a five-year deal — a growth of 455  per cent from the last deal.

    Efforts are reportedly afoot to live-stream the auction either on iplt20.com or bcci.tv or both.

    Meanwhile, IPL chairman (Congress leader and a television channel co-owner) Rajeev Shukla, who faces allegations of conflict of interest despite getting a clean chit from former BCCI ombudsman retired justice AP Shah, has recused himself from the auction of the T20 League to be held in Mumbai. Shukla has refuted allegations that BAG Films, which is owned by his wife, had an understanding with the potential bidder Star Sports.

    Considering recent entries of Yahoo, Airtel, BAMTech and DAZN/Perform Group, the list of bidders has reportedly gone up to 24 including Star India, Followon Interactive Media, Taj TV India, Amazon Seller Services, Sony Pictures Networks, Times Internet, Supersport International, Gulf DTH FZ LLC, Reliance Jio Digital, GroupM Media, beIN, Econet Media, SKY UK, BTG Legal Services, ESPN Digital Media, BT PLC, Twitter and Facebook Inc.

    Two significant changes can be seen in this time’s auction. The rights would now be auctioned for a five-year period up to 2022), and rights for seven territories are being auctioned as opposed to 2008’s two sections — India and international rights. Television rights in India are believed to see a neck-and-neck race. Conditions stated in the tender make it compulsory for the digital partners to delay the live-streaming by five minutes and allocate 80 per cent of the bidding amount to broadcast rights, eventually making the equation favourable for Star India and Sony Pictures.

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  • IPL ’18 media rights decision likely in July, player recruitment norms to be tweaked

    NEW DELHI: Even as the Indian cricket board BCCI explores tweaks in new player recruitment norms by franchisees for the next edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2018, decisions on media rights is likely to be taken by next month and the title sponsorship to be decided by month-end.

    This was stated by IPL commissioner Rajeev Shukla yesterday during the India-Bangladesh semi-final match in England where the Champions Trophy is under way.

    According to Shukla, who was in conversation with commentators of All-India Radio (AIR) during the India-Bangladesh cricket match, the media rights would be hawked in a bundled form as well as separately. The media rights for IPL include those for TV, online, digital and overseas (outside Indian geographical region).

    Chinese phone maker Vivo, wanting to make a splash in the Indian market and establish a presence, had picked up the title sponsorship for IPL for two years in 2015. Earlier, such sponsors included Indian real estate company DLF, and PepsiCo. The latter had opted out of sponsorship after betting and match-fixing scandals rocked IPL a few years ago.

    A 2016 news report in the Mint newspaper stated that, for the Indian sub-continent, BCCI will award the television rights for 10 years and digital media rights for five years. The competitive bidding process would close on 25 October 2016.

    At present, IPL’s TV broadcast rights are held by Sony Pictures Networks Pvt. Ltd, which will expire in 2017, and the Internet and mobile rights rest with Novi Digital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, a unit of Star India, for a period of three years till 2017.

    As to whether IPL is contemplating increasing the number of participating teams from the present eight, Shukla replied in the negative. This would mean that the teams from Gujarat and Pune would have to bow out in 2018 as controversy-tainted Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings are likely to stage a comeback after a two-year suspension.

    Shukla also said during the conversation on AIR that BCCI and IPL are contemplating making changes in various criteria to pick and buy cricketers by various franchisee owners from next year.

    The senior BCCI official elaborated that “some restrictions” would be placed on IPL team owners to desist them from picking a rookie player without any experience of BCCI-supported domestic cricket tourneys as it amounted to discrimination of deserving players who have played in Indian domestic cricket tournaments (Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy, etc).

    About the reason behind BCCI agreeing to participate in Champions Trophy (where India would sometime have to play Pakistan, a country regarded back home as abetting and encouraging terrorism against India), Shukla smartly skirted answering directly, preferring to say that BCCI agreed on participation in CT 2017 as it wanted the national team to retain the trophy.

    India is the current holder of the Champions Trophy and the next edition of the tournament would be held in India.

    Shukla, while admitting that India has become a nerve-centre for global cricket contributing sizably to the revenue kitty of cricket’s international governing body ICC, stated that all outstanding financial issues related to revenue sharing would be sorted out soon and amicably between ICC and BCCI.

  • Vivo IPL’s Trophy Tour from March 19

    Vivo IPL’s Trophy Tour from March 19

    MUMBAI: Indian Premier League (IPL), the sporting spectacle cheered by every Indian and cricket fan across the globe begins its journey with the first ever Trophy Tour starting March 19, 2016. Making its debut from Pune, the Vivo IPL 2016 trophy will travel to six different cities in India ending its journey with Mumbai, home to last year’s IPL champions.

    It would be a great opportunity for the cricket loving fans to see the trophy from such close quarters. It will add to their thrill and excitement to view the trophy which would be sought after by eight competing IPL teams.

    IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla  said, “This is the first ever trophy tour, which will not only promote the league but will also give the cricket fans across the country a chance to witness the trophy first hand in their cities. With the new title sponsor ‘Vivo’, on board we are thrilled to embark on this exciting six city tour to showcase the trophy for Vivo IPL 2016.”

    Sharing the excitement on becoming the new title sponsor for IPL 2016 and announcing the trophy tour, Vivo India  CEO Alex Feng said, “Vivo is the first ever title sponsor to organize the trophy tour. IPL being the most professional leagues played across the world. It truly reflects the love and passion Indians share for this wonderful sport. Vivo is a global brand which appeals to the sensibilities of the young Indians. We are constantly striving to innovate and translate our vision into reality. And, undoubtedly, the partnership with IPL is the fastest way to reach out the youth of India.”

    The trophy tour to six cities will start from March 19, 2016 and will close the tour with Mumbai on April 03, 2016. The schedule to each city will be:

  • Vivo IPL’s Trophy Tour from March 19

    Vivo IPL’s Trophy Tour from March 19

    MUMBAI: Indian Premier League (IPL), the sporting spectacle cheered by every Indian and cricket fan across the globe begins its journey with the first ever Trophy Tour starting March 19, 2016. Making its debut from Pune, the Vivo IPL 2016 trophy will travel to six different cities in India ending its journey with Mumbai, home to last year’s IPL champions.

    It would be a great opportunity for the cricket loving fans to see the trophy from such close quarters. It will add to their thrill and excitement to view the trophy which would be sought after by eight competing IPL teams.

    IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla  said, “This is the first ever trophy tour, which will not only promote the league but will also give the cricket fans across the country a chance to witness the trophy first hand in their cities. With the new title sponsor ‘Vivo’, on board we are thrilled to embark on this exciting six city tour to showcase the trophy for Vivo IPL 2016.”

    Sharing the excitement on becoming the new title sponsor for IPL 2016 and announcing the trophy tour, Vivo India  CEO Alex Feng said, “Vivo is the first ever title sponsor to organize the trophy tour. IPL being the most professional leagues played across the world. It truly reflects the love and passion Indians share for this wonderful sport. Vivo is a global brand which appeals to the sensibilities of the young Indians. We are constantly striving to innovate and translate our vision into reality. And, undoubtedly, the partnership with IPL is the fastest way to reach out the youth of India.”

    The trophy tour to six cities will start from March 19, 2016 and will close the tour with Mumbai on April 03, 2016. The schedule to each city will be:

  • BCCI forms working group to study Lodha Committee verdict on IPL; Rajeev Shukla to head

    BCCI forms working group to study Lodha Committee verdict on IPL; Rajeev Shukla to head

    MUMBAI: The Indian Premiere League (IPL) Governing Council has recognized the urgent need to understand the impact of the Lodha Committee verdict on the IPL and the wider ramifications for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in detail. This, to uphold the paramountcy of the game in the country.

     

    The Governing Council has authorised chairman Rajeev Shukla, to constitute a working group, which will study this verdict in consultation with all the key advisors and explore all the possible measures to be adopted, with an objective to protect the interests of all the stakeholders involved.

      

    This group will work within a time bound period of six weeks and report their recommendations to the IPL Governing Council, which will deliberate and share their views with the working committee of the BCCI, for further action.