IPL 2024: Should the unsponsored Orange and Purple Cap be reconsidered

IPL 2024

IPL 2024, As he defeated the Punjab Kings by 77 runs to win the match in Bengaluru, you may have heard Virat Kohli state that he does not play for caps and other things. If you were paying attention, you may have also noticed that Kohli’s orange cap did not have a sponsor’s logo on it.

An Indian Premier League sponsorship slot goes unsold very seldom. Two such spots, the Orange & Purple Cap and the Umpire’s partner, are still open well into the first week of the 2024 Indian Premier League.

The last two IPL seasons saw the highest returns from central sponsorship; the BCCI’s coffers were boosted by over ₹1000 crore annually thanks to title sponsorship, six Associate sponsors, a sponsor for strategic timeouts, sponsors of Orange and Purple Caps, and an umpire partner.

There is a revenue shortfall of nearly ₹200 crore in the current edition. A significant decline in revenue has been avoided thanks to Tata’s continued sponsorship of the fantasy gaming segment for an increased amount (₹500 crore annually) and an increase in Associate sponsorship proceeds (My11Circle’s new deal is worth ₹125 crore annually).

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This has minimal negative impact on the BCCI in the grand scheme of things, as media rights generate ₹9678 crores in revenue annually for the IPL. Less Associate sponsors and unsold categories do, however, negatively impact the BCCI’s image. especially as IPL teams look into new sponsorship opportunities, such as ice cream partners for SRH or water bottle sponsors for RCB.

The two Saudi sponsors that had just jumped on the IPL bandwagon, Saudi Tourism and Aramco, have not extended their agreements. Some businesses would rather not take part in auctions. Others are looking for true long-term contracts, like ten years,” an IPL official stated. The official said there might still be a last-minute agreement.

NOW NOT IMPORTANT?

Nevertheless, it seems like there needs to be a quick update for a couple of the categories where the IPL is looking for partners. For instance, the Orange and Purple Cap is given to the player who finishes each game with the most runs and wickets taken throughout the tournament. The T20 was not the data-driven monster it is today when the concept was first conceived of for the first edition in 2008.

In the 16-year history of the IPL, an Orange Cap holder has only assisted a franchise in winning the trophy once. If the innings has consumed too many balls during key stages of a match, even the team with the highest run total may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. An IPL team’s analyst said, “We absolutely deride these Cap awards as all they do is encourage meaningless individual goals.”

The best way to combine cricket and business would be for the BCCI to identify a suitable data sponsor, or a sponsor who collaborates with an analytics company, and evaluate Impact performances during a Twenty20 match using cutting-edge data algorithms.

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After hitting 45 runs off 39 balls in Sunday’s Gujarat Titans vs. Mumbai Indians match, hitter Sai Sudharsan was named Man of the Match. The batter claimed that there were “too many great contributions in the second innings,” which left him “a bit shocked.” It is possible that Sudharsan is alluding to Mohit Sharma’s (4-0-32-2) spell for the Titans. Advanced data sets would rate the spell much higher because it involved Sharma bowling all the difficult overs to set up Titans’ narrow victory, but plain numbers did not show how effective the spell was.