The Indian-Australian ODI series has started today (Nov 27) in Sydney with the first ODI being played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The matches will be played in the closed stadiums with no spectators since the coronavirus pandemic is still far from over and gathering of audiences inside the stadium will increase the risk of spreading the lethal virus.
In this series, the Indian cricketers will be wearing the newly designed jersey which is based on the retro theme. The new jersey which is inspired by the jersey of 70s is of navy blue color instead of sky blue. Recently, the Indian opener and the left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan took to Twitter and gave a glimpse of the new jersey.
Take a look:
He captioned the photo as, “New jersey, renewed motivation. Ready to go.”
New jersey, renewed motivation. Ready to go. 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/gKG9gS78th
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) November 24, 2020
However, the new jersey annoyed netizens because of the ad placements and people called the jersey as an advertisement banner instead of the national jersey. The sponsors MPL Sports and BYJU’s have been given a lot of space because of which many feel that the Australian cricket team will be playing against BYJU’s XI rather than the Indian cricket team. MPL Sports, the fantasy app, is the new kits sponsor of the Indian cricket team as it has signed a three-year 120 crore plus revenue sharing deal with BCCI. Earlier, Nike was the kits sponsor of the Indian cricket team.
Fans were very unhappy with the new design and they slammed BCCI left and right for ruining the Indian jersey. Here are some of the selected reactions:
#1
https://twitter.com/sumin08539282/status/1331390262682128385
#2
This is just insults to India in international forum that BCCI promoting brands and companies over india. below picture of sir @kiranmore is our jersey. pic.twitter.com/wZdGGZyjBY
— Bomri (@Bomri6) November 26, 2020
#3
Byju's is playing Australia !! Wow. https://t.co/XpcYISOIxU
— Aravind Prasad (@abprasad167) November 24, 2020
#4
Customized ppe kit is much better than this Jersey mpl and byjus completely ruined this Jersey 0.5/10 and this is what happens when companies like MPL design your Jersey they better @BCCI will change the better it will be #BYJUSvsAUS
— vishal pandey (@The_Only_Piece) November 24, 2020
#5
See this 😂https://t.co/bmULi96DSl
— G (@ThatWittyGal) November 25, 2020
#6
"INDIA" hamesha upar, sabse bold aur prominent font me likha jana chahiye…brands ki jagah kona khopcha hai…Ye National team ki jersey ko corporate billboard ki tarah treat kiya gya hai
— ANIMESH (@aniran009) November 25, 2020
#7
Looks like this team is playing for Byju not for India. @SDhawan25 you can put sponsor’s name on your forehead also, why is it left empty!!!
— Mandeep Randhawa (@iamambersaria) November 24, 2020
#8
Requesting BCCI to allow sponsor logos on innerwear also. The spouses/companion/cricketers pets should also be allowed logos on them….. Ben Stokes 😡
— Vipul Shah (@vips1031) November 24, 2020
#9
Horrible design. Logos are too large. MPL, BCCI and Byju logos should be much smaller. Really bad design. This is what happens when a non-sports company sponsors and designs official team kits. Please rectify @SGanguly99
— viv (@nomadic_23) November 24, 2020
#10
add ki hadd ho gyi hai. Thoda chota banwa lete. Itna paisa kamati hai bcci phir bhi tshirt ko add se bhar diya. #INDIA to kahi nazar nhi aa rha hai. Besharmo india ke liye match khelte ho ya kisi brand ke liye. @narendramodi @myogiadityanath @SrBachchan @sachin_rt @SGanguly99
— Prince Anil 🇮🇳 (@anilv178) November 25, 2020
#11
Yo! @BCCI you left the collar for some ad placement. Thanks for spoiling the retro Jersey and @BYJUS what a ugly logo
— Sai 🚩 (@sftmumbai) November 24, 2020
#12
*New Jersey Launched*
Meanwhile
INDIA(written on jersey) after seeing
Byju's Logo pic.twitter.com/cUfOFiaR9c— सनातनी पुतिन (@the_aryans119) November 25, 2020
#13
Byju's Cricket Control India.
— Gabbar (@GabbbarSingh) November 25, 2020
#14
https://twitter.com/sathwik_red21/status/1331179659061444609
#15
Worst Jersey ever. You are in so much need of money that you can put some ad logo on center pad. It is BYJUs team and definitely not bcci team. If you have so much money, improve our pitches quality.
— Milind Bhopatkar (@milindbhopatkar) November 24, 2020
On the other hand, the Australian cricketers will also be wearing new jersey in the T20 series against India. Cricket Australia took to Twitter and posted a photo of Mitchell Starc wearing the new jersey and the netizens just loved it.
The Australian men's team will celebrate our First Nations people this summer by wearing this incredible Indigenous playing shirt for the entirety of the #AUSvIND Dettol T20 series! 🖤💛❤️ pic.twitter.com/GmD36G8XoC
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) November 11, 2020
As far as the first ODI is concerned, the host won the toss and decided to bat first. This decision was proved correct after David Warner and Aaron Finch gave a superb start. While David Warner scored 69, Finch got out after scoring a century (114). Steve Smith also helped his team in putting a big total of 374 by scoring a ton (105) and Glenn Maxwell came up with the blistering knock of 45 for which he played only 19 balls.
Till the time the article was written, India was in a difficult position as they have lost 3 wickets for just 85 runs. Mayank Agarwal, skipper Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer have returned to the pavilion while Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul are on the crease.
Target of 375 seems difficult for India now but cricket is an unpredictable game so let us just keep our fingers crossed.