Brand ‘India Cricket’ get set rolling at home

In the last few years, the BCCI has been in the news more for match-fixing, corruption, violations, court cases and infighting than for running cricket.

In the last few years, the BCCI has been in the news more for match-fixing, corruption, violations, court cases and infighting than for running cricket. As things begin to settle down, BCCI is turning its attention to promoting the game like a professional organisation. Branding its cricket under the ‘India Cricket’ campaign is the first step it has taken to revive its image as a top cricket body in the world. “Every country has focussed on its domestic season. We all get to know when England and Australia play the Ashes or New Zealand travel to Australia. India is the powerhouse of world cricket, but our season does not have such status. The ‘India Cricket’ campaign is to promote the start of the season, both domestic and international, in India,” BCCI secretary, Anurag Thakur, told HT.

Illustration by Jayanto

The BCCI launched this campaign on October 1, when the domestic season began with the first round of Ranji Trophy matches. October marks the start of the domestic season. Official broadcasters Star have made a promo in which limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni is inviting the cricket world, saying ‘welcome to India Cricket’.

“It is the branding for Indian Cricket. We thought about that three months back when we were planning for the Freedom Series (India-SA). We thought we needed a name for the campaign. So, we decided to organise all our cricket under one umbrella,” Thakur said.

During the IPL spot- and match-fixing hearings, the Apex court had raised many questions on BCCI’s ‘control’ over the game despite its name containing the word. This is also seen as a first step towards getting rid of its unpopular name, BCCI. Other boards like Australia, SL and SA have already simplified their names. However, Thakur said there was no plan to follow suit.

“The name BCCI will stay. There is no way we are going to change it. We have just started promoting India Cricket but the BCCI entity will be intact. The BCCI logo will also stay on the India team shirt,” he said.