Amid a growing negative sentiment towards Chinese products in India, the smartphone brand VIVO -a Chinese company has to pull out as sponsor of the upcoming Indian Premier League. With the cricket league scheduled to begin from later half of September this year in the United Arab Emirates, the league organizers are in a rush to find a new title sponsor.
Apart from the Coronavirus pandemic, Indians are brewing a strong anti-China sentiment following one of the worst clashes between the armies of the two nations in June this year. Twenty Indian soldiers including an officer were killed when the two armies met in a violent clashes in the Galwan region of Ladakh. The Chinese troops had intruding into Indian territory to claim over the region.
The hostile and untrustworthy behaviour of the Chinese part deeply hurt the Indian sentiment. People from all works of life began embracing the campaign to boycott Chinese products. Besides, Chinese has come out a bane for the entire world with the origin of Coronavirus outbreak from China. With the pandemic still destroying health and livelihoods of every country, people are angry at Chinese authorities for not being honest about the health problem since early stages of the outbreak.
Indian Premier League (IPL) is the biggest and richest cricket league in the world. The 13th IPL was suspended from its original schedule in April due to Coronavirus pandemic. Now with the league scheduled for September to November period this year, it is facing the harsh reality of public sentiment in the current scenario.
Vivo had bagged the title sponsorship for two years initially in 2015, and retained the rights signing a five-year contract (2017-22), paying about USD 341 million. According to reports, front runners for VIVO replacement are Coca Cola India and Byju’s and Amazon India is also reported to be coming into the race.
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