After Amul’s US cricket team’s sponsorship; Nandini Dairy sponsors Scotland cricket team

Delhi: Cricket Scotland has announced India's Karnataka-based Nandini dairy as the official sponsor of its national team in the upcoming T20 World Cup in the Americas.

With this, Nandini Dairy has become the second Indian dairy company to sponsor a cricket team outside India, following Amul. 

Recently, Amul joined as the Lead Arm sponsor of USA Cricket men's national cricket team for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. 

The Nandini logo will be present on the leading arm of Scotland men's playing shirts at the tournament, which takes place in the West Indies and USA from June 2.

The brand name and logo, written in Kannada, can be seen on the sleeves of players' T-shirts that were launched on Wednesday.

Claire Drummond, Cricket Scotland's commercial manager said in a statement, "It's fantastic to have an established brand backing our men's team as they head onto the global stage and compete against the best in the world, and we're confident that this partnership demonstrates the global appeal of our national team and of Cricket Scotland." 

Scotland begin their campaign against England on June 4.

MK Jagadish, managing director of Karnataka Milk Federation, the parent company of Nandini, said, "Our partnership with Cricket Scotland at this World Cup will help Nandini reach a global audience of cricket lovers and is a first step in taking our brand to more countries around the world."

However, this move has faced some criticism. The former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Infosys, TV Mohandas Pai, criticised the sponsorship in a post on X.

"Why not sponsor the Karnataka Ranji team, Karnataka sportspersons, Karnataka artists? Farmers' children, scholarships for the poor? KMF is funded by Kannadiga taxpayers' money, subsidies, and investments from the budget but chooses to spend on foreign teams whom nobody knows!" Pai wrote on X.

In response to Pai’s criticism, Jagdish defended the sponsorship decision, clarifying that 85% of the federation’s revenues directly benefit farmers in India.