BCCI hauls up kit sponsor Nike after Indian players complain of substandard clothing

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has expressed displeasure over Indian cricket team’s official kit sponsor Nike for providing sub-standard clothing to the team over the past few months. [caption id=“attachment_3960167” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Indian players posing at the kit launch early in 2017. Image Courtesy: Facebook BCCI[/caption] According to a report in the Indian Express, the Indian players have complained regarding the poor quality of the clothing. Subsequently, the two top BCCI executives — Chief Executive Officer Rahul Johri and General Manager game development Ratnakar Shetty — have raised the issue with the Committee of Administrators (COA) The matter was then raised in a meeting with COA, whose chairman Vinod Rai expressed his concerns as well. “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,” Johri was quoted as saying in the report. Nike, a leading apparel brand, has been the official kit sponsor for over a decade, and its association with Indian cricket team goes back to 2006. The Nike is contracted as the official kit sponsor till 2020. Their contract runs from 1 Jan 2016 to 30 September 2020 — and they pay Rs 87,34,000 per match.