Adidas, a leading sports apparel and equipment brand, is just about to secure the outfitting rights for the Indian cricket team. The parent brand of the firm that makes Killer Jeans, Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd, currently held the rights. The Adidas agreement is expected to start in June of current year and extend until March 2028.
Since Killer Jeans joined the team, it hasn't been seen as the best fit to include a business with no history in cricket. The board wanted to get it right and maybe go back to the days when the Indian team's uniforms featured a well-known sports brand, like Nike.
Killer Jeans entered as a replacement after the former sponsor, Mobile Premier League (MPL), backed out of the agreement early. Nike had a five-year agreement with BCCI prior to MPL joining the team, during which they paid INR 370 Cr from 2016 to 2020.
Then, MPL Sports agreed to a three-year contract that would have run from November 2020 to December 2023, but they didn't stick with it.
MPL and Killer joining forces had robbed Indian cricket of the distinction of having a leading sports clothing brand as a stakeholder for the first time since BCCI and Nike had formed a partnership.
In terms of having a top sports apparel company as a stakeholder, Indian cricket could no longer boast thanks to their affiliation with MPL and Killer.
The proverbial chip will soon be "back on the shoulder" with Adidas almost ready to join the team.
KL Rahul will be ruled out of the 3rd Test! Bhajji explains the reason