Baba Ramdev's Patanjali to bid for IPL title sponsorship

Guwahati: Baba Ramdev is considering bidding for the Indian Premier League title sponsorship after the slot was suddenly vacated by Chinese smartphone maker. The BCCI and Vivo, the previous partners, had abruptly ended the contract due to the backlash the board faced with the Chinese brand amid conflicts with the neighbours at the border.

"We are considering the IPL title sponsorship for this year since we want to give Patanjali brand a global marketing platform" Patanjali spokesperson SK Tijarawala confirmed to media. Baba Ramdev's company is indeed considering to make a proposal to BCCI, Tijarawala added.

Earlier, the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly stated that Vivo's exit for the 13th IPL should not be seen as a financial crisis. The BCCI had on August 6 confirmed that Vivo will not be the title sponsor for the IPL 2020.

"Patanjali as a title sponsor for IPL will do more for Patanjali than for IPL. While the caste hierarchy among brands could play out, Patanjali owning the title sponsorship would be contextual from a nationalist perspective, since there is an enormous anti-China sentiment prevailing in the country," brand strategist Harish Bijoor has been quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the BCCI is racing to find a new sponsor after Vivo's exit at short notice. Ever since Vivo left, several names including Jio, Amazon, the Tata group, Dream11, Adani group, and Byjus have been doing the rounds as potential candidates for the title sponsorship of IPL.

Market watchers said that while Patanjali comes with the big rub-off of being a staunch nationalist brand replacing a Chinese one, it lacks the star power of a multinational or a heavily-invested unicorn brand.

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