New Delhi: The ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2026 will be remembered not just for the on-field performances of players but also for a shift in marketing strategy. Big Indian and global brands moved past just rolling out commercials. They chose to sponsor associate nations.
The conversation started with Flipkart’s partnership with Namibia, followed by Cadbury 5 Star’s collaboration with Scotland. Then, Zaggle, a fintech company, backed Ireland.
Flipkart’s growth & marketing vice-president Pratik Arun Shetty explained the calculated intent behind the move.
“Flipkart’s partnership with Team Namibia is an exciting opportunity and an unconventional choice that reflects our intent to show up meaningfully at one of the world’s biggest sporting events,” he said.
As per him, because Namibia and India were placed in the same group, it provided access to the same audience base, comparable viewership, identical logo visibility, and broadcast exposure.
“This positions Flipkart at the centre of the tournament’s most watched moments, reinforcing our scale and strong presence across the country,” he added.
If Flipkart won applause for its strategy, Cadbury 5 Star stole the spotlight with its wit.
Scotland was not originally part of the T20 World Cup lineup. The team received a last-minute call-up after Bangladesh opted out of traveling to India for its scheduled matches. As per ICC regulations, the next eligible team in the qualification standings was invited to replace them, and that team was Scotland.
Cadbury 5 Star didn’t waste a second to capitalize on the moment. Known for its iconic tagline, “Eat 5 Star, Do Nothing,” the brand found an almost serendipitous alignment with Scotland’s qualification story.
Then there was Zaggle, an Indian fintech and spend management company, which got somewhat lost in the buzz generated by the other two brands.
Zaggle became the official sponsor of the Ireland Men’s Cricket Team for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup 2026. The partnership marks a key milestone in Zaggle’s international growth journey and represents its first major association with a global ICC event.
Zaggle’s branding appeared on Ireland’s official playing kit throughout the tournament, along with visibility across training apparel and selected digital and broadcast assets linked to the team’s World Cup campaign.
Dr Raj P Narayanam, founder and executive chairman at Zaggle, said cricket unites people across borders much like technology connects enterprises across ecosystems.
“This association reflects Zaggle’s global ambitions and our belief in supporting teams that play with passion, focus, and purpose on the world stage,” he said.
The partnership marks a key milestone in Zaggle’s international growth journey and represents its first major association with a global ICC event.
Also Read: Flipkart turns heads with grand reveal. It’s now sponsor of Namibia’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad
‘Lottery system’
Veteran PR and communications professional Dilip Cherian, widely regarded as India’s ‘Image Guru’, describes this as a “lottery system”.
“This is the kind of risk marketing managers can take because the money they would put in a team like Scotland is so little that even if the returns don’t happen, it doesn’t matter. If it does, it’s a marketing bonanza,” Cherian explained.
“If you strike it, you strike it rich. But if you don’t, you don’t lose much.”
Indian brands aren’t the first ones to take this approach. Burger King, back in 2019-2020, created a marketing campaign using the video game FIFA 20 to promote the small English club Stevenage FC. By sponsoring the team, Burger King placed its logo on the club’s jersey, which also appeared inside the game.
The brand then launched the ‘Stevenage Challenge’, encouraging gamers to play with Stevenage, score goals, and share clips online for rewards. Thousands participated, sharing over 25,000 goals and making Stevenage the most-used team in FIFA career mode. However, for the Indian brands, the public participation was limited to social media discussions.
Iceland cricketer David Cook, who also handles the X handle of Iceland Cricket, said that brand sponsorships are great because they help associate nations to “fill some of their funding gaps.” The brands, in return, get broad reach into new markets and audiences.
The Icelandic Cricket Association, which is striving to become an associate nation in the coming years, was sponsored by Sportzchain, an Indian company focused on NFTs, three years ago.
“They unfortunately hit hard economic times one year into our three-year agreement, and we then experienced a circa $25,000 (Rs 22.75 lakh) reduction in expected sponsorship for those two years,” said Cook, highlighting how these brand sponsorships are often valued significantly lower than top-tier team sponsorships.
‘Most talked-about brand’
Brands compete fiercely for space on the Indian cricket jersey to secure maximum eyeballs. But that comes with a heavy price tag. For instance, Apollo Tyres is the current sponsor of Team India. They secured the title sponsorship rights in a deal valued at Rs 579 crore.
“Its a lot cheaper to be on a Scotland or an Ireland jersey as compared to India,” Cherian said.
Now, against that benchmark, the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart reportedly invested just Rs 1 crore with the Scotland team. And, emerged as the biggest winner in terms of buzz. It became one of the most talked-about brands online during the tournament, generating over 250 million views.
Roughly, Flipkart’s investment of 1 crore is close to 0.17 percent of what it would take to secure a sponsorship with the Indian men’s cricket team.
Flipkart 🤝 Namibia?
We’ve seen the chatter.
All your “WHY?” gets answered in this video. ▶️ pic.twitter.com/mPbeZFzJJL
— Flipkart (@Flipkart) February 10, 2026
Cricket offers more room for advertisements than perhaps any other sport. It halts the play after every six deliveries and every time a wicket falls. These pauses create the perfect window for advertisers to step in and promote everything from pan masala and mattresses to mutual funds and gaming apps.
So, during a four-hour match, the audience is bombarded with commercials. A commercial during cricket season rarely has a recall value, unless it’s as catchy as Kingfisher’s O la la le lo.
According to brand expert Vishakha Talreja, relying on traditional advertising or digital marketing may no longer guarantee sustained engagement. In an overcrowded environment, which practically multiplies during the World Cup, brands need sharper interventions to truly stand out.
And, these team sponsorships offered just that. It helped in cutting through the noise and positioned the brands at the centre of public conversation.
“It is interesting to see Indian companies move beyond traditional advertising by leveraging the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for more strategic, story-driven collaborations,” Talreja said.
Cherain also feels that ICC has been pushing Indian brands to become part of the arsenal and revenue model of these smaller teams.
While these sponsorships won’t make it a level playing field, it is an attempt in that direction.
“It also encourages smaller brands from those countries to look at the sport and their teams,” he added.
‘Eat 5 star, do nothing’
Cadbury’s ‘Eat 5 star, do nothing’ narrative practically wrote itself. Scotland’s last-minute entry into the World Cup resonated humorously with the brand’s long-standing positioning around doing less and chilling more.
Glad to have made it to India.
Eat 5 Star. Do Nothing 😉 pic.twitter.com/SWZBQT7aBe
— Cricket Scotland (@CricketScotland) February 13, 2026
Cadbury 5 Star’s collaboration leaned heavily into this irony, celebrating the idea that sometimes, opportunity knocks when you least expect it. The campaign amplified Scotland’s underdog story while reinforcing the brand’s playful, irreverent voice.
“Being associated with cricket allows a certain kind of product or brand to get the eyeballs of the consumer. Be it Flipkart or Cadbury, the age and income cohort that watches this sport can afford these products. But an Audi won’t do it,” Cherain explained, adding that only mass market brands should go for this collaboration. Brands that have an appeal for people between 15 and 25 years of age.
Talreja explains that Zaggle’s association with Irish cricket reflects the global ambitions of a small homegrown brand. For her, it’s an informal yet serious way to connect with the overseas market, like Europe and North America, before a brand’s official arrival.
“It demonstrates how Indian startups are thinking big and out of the box to build recall as well as global connections. And this strategy is far more effective than traditional advertising,” she said.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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