Earlier, the Indian team had raised objections about the quality of kits presented by Nike, and board President Rahul Johri had said that talks would be held with Nike representatives about the same.
Renowned sports brand Nike lived up to its reputation when the brand flew in new training kits for the Indian cricket team in Pallenkele in Sri Lanka ahead of the second ODI match scheduled on Thursday.
The change took place after several players of the current team complained about the substandard clothing and subsequently, the two top BCCI employees – Chief Executive Officer Rahul Johri and General Manager game development Ratnakar Shetty – raised the issue with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA).
Those at the ground on Tuesday MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey and Kuldeep Yadav were seen wearing the new training jerseys. After sweating out at the nets, the players were asked for their feedback about the new gear by the representatives of India’s official apparel sponsor Nike.
“The players will use the new set here and also during the limited-overs home series against Australia in September-October. Based on their feedback, the Nike will decide on its official launch,” the source said.
The company representatives clicked pictures of the players in the new attire before approaching the players to get a first-hand feedback from them. The players were provided a questionnaire too. Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni spent a fair amount of time with the representatives who were seen taking notes.
Reportedly, the players’ concerns were taken seriously in the last CoA meeting. BCCI CEO Rahul Johri told,
“It (Nike’s clothing) has come up for discussion in last CoA meeting and chairman CoA (Vinod Rai) took it very strongly. The team cannot have sub-standard kits and we will be engaging with Nike and he has asked to put our case strongly. We have to engage with them, we will have a meeting with them (Nike) next week and try to resolve it at earliest.”
It might be recalled that the Indian team was unhappy with the color of their practice kit in the run-up to the World T20 last year. On that occasion too, Nike acted fast and replacements were made available to the players a day before India played their final warm-up game against South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium.
Nike has been the official supplier of Team India’s kits since January 2006, after its rivals with a deal worth an eye-watering 43 million dollars.
In 2011, Nike extended its deal with the Indian Cricket team and paid 60 million dollars for the next five years. Nike’s current deal with the team lasts till 2020, as in 2015, they again signed a contract renewal and paid 57 million dollars to do so.
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