Team India Jersey Curse, A list of sponsors who went bust

Team India Jersey Curse: Getting a place on the jersey of the Indian cricket team is a matter of pride and prestige for any company. But the strange coincidence is that in the 21st century, the companies that got the main sponsorship of Team India's jersey got caught in some legal or financial dispute. Along with this, that company also came from the heights to the ground. Now a new name Dream11 has been added to it. After the Online Gaming Bill was passed by the Parliament, Dream11 is also preparing to pack up its bags.

Let us tell you that on August 21 (Thursday), the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 was passed by the Rajya Sabha. This bill had already been passed in the Lok Sabha, so now after getting the approval of the President, this bill will take the form of law. It has been clarified in this bill that any gaming app in which there is a transaction of money will be completely banned.

Team India Jersey Curse: A list of sponsors who went bust

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It also includes luck based and skill based games. Since Dream11 also comes under the skill-based category, Dream11's current operations in India will be completely shut down as soon as the bill becomes law. Before Dream11, Byju's, Oppo, Star India and Sahara had signed agreements with BCCI, but the journey of all of them was full of difficulties...

List of Team India sponsors who went bust

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1. Sahara India (2001-2013): Let's talk about Sahara first, if any brand name remained associated with the Indian cricket team's jersey for the longest time, it was the Sahara Group. Sahara was the main sponsor of the Indian team's jersey for 12 years. During this time, the Indian team lost in the 2003 World Cup final, while it became the winner of T20 World Cup 2007 and ODI World Cup 2011. Despite such a long partnership with Team India, Sahara's business gradually started to falter.

Sahara Group had raised about Rs 24,000 crore from investors through its two housing bonds. However, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) believed that this money was raised in an illegal manner and in violation of rules. In 2012, the Supreme Court ordered Sahara to return all this money to the investors and asked it to deposit it with SEBI. Sahara did not follow the court orders properly. In 2014, the group's chairman Subrata Roy was arrested. Subrata Roy died in 2023, but the process of returning money to the investors is still going on.

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2. Star India (2014–2017): After Sahara, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made a deal with Star India. That period of 2014-17 was very special for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and they scored a lot of runs in this period. However, in the meantime, Star India's troubles increased. Walt Disney-owned Star was accused of misusing market dominance. Later, the grip of this company weakened and it had to merge with Jio.

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3. Oppo (2017–2020): Chinese company Oppo made a huge deal of Rs 1079 crore with BCCI, which was for five years. However, Oppo did not get the expected profit and the sponsorship expenses started becoming heavy for the company. During this time, patent disputes with Nokia and InterDigital had further increased the company's problems. The result was that Oppo broke this agreement midway.

Also Read: Future of fantasy cricket in India, how will it impact people?

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4. BYJU'S (2020-22): In the year 2020, BYJU'S replaced Oppo as the main sponsor of the Indian team's jersey. But soon the company fell from the heights to the ground. Its value was $ 22 billion by 2022, which later became zero. The company did not even have enough money to pay BCCI. BCCI had approached NCLT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) to recover Rs 158 crore.

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5. Dream11 (2023 till now): Then Dream11 acquired the sponsorship rights for the Indian team's kit for 3 years in the year 2023. This deal of Dream11 with BCCI was done for Rs 358 crore. Initially it was considered a great deal because Dream11 had become very popular among users playing fantasy games and it also had a direct connection with cricket.

In 2021–22, Dream11 was accused of GST tax evasion of Rs 1200 crore. This controversy had a profound impact on the image and trust of Dream11. Now the new online gaming bill is a direct attack on its business model. This will not only affect the company's earnings, but its name may also be removed from Team India's jersey.

If seen, the current value of Dream11 is around $8 billion and it is the biggest player in India's $3.8 billion gaming industry. But if this model closes, the company will lose a large part of its earnings. Then it will be difficult to fulfill the deal of Rs 358 crore made with BCCI.

Also Read: Is Dream11 banned in India? And why? The truth about the Online Gaming Bill 2025