Sponsors leaning into IPL rituals

Birla Opus Paints has widened its Indian Premier League push with JioStar, as brands chase the habits and rituals that keep viewers returning through a two-month tournament. (passionateinmarketing.com) The paint brand said on April 18 that it had continued its partnership with Wavemaker India and JioStar for Tata IPL 2026, after using last season’s “Indian Colours League” campaign to blend rival team colors in its ads. This year it shifted to a “Main Bhi…” campaign built around brand adoption, product quality and performance. (passionateinmarketing.com, mediabrief.com) Birla Opus said the 2026 campaign runs in multiple languages and uses 10 cricketers: Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Axar Patel, Rajat Patidar, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ashutosh Sharma, Dhruv Jurel, Avesh Khan and Nehal Wadhera. JioStar’s sports sales head, Anup Govindan, said the brand had activated across linear television, connected TV and digital targeting. (passionateinmarketing.com, mediabrief.com) That campaign sits inside a larger IPL ad market. On March 26, JioStar said it had signed 27 sponsors for IPL 2026, with Birla Opus in the co-powered tier alongside Hero MotoCorp and Amazon.in. (jiostar.com) JioStar described the tournament as a cross-screen product spanning television and digital, with sponsors ranging from consumer goods to finance and technology. The company said that mix reflected advertiser demand for national reach and category-wide relevance during the IPL window. (jiostar.com) On the field, the same tournament logic rewards players who can turn a familiar moment into a repeatable one. On April 16 at Wankhede Stadium, Arshdeep Singh took 3 for 22 in four overs as Punjab Kings held Mumbai Indians to 195 for 6 and then chased 196 in 16.3 overs to win by seven wickets with 21 balls left. (espncricinfo.com) ESPNcricinfo said Arshdeep had entered that match with two wickets and an economy rate of 10.6 across four games, then used swing with the new ball and reverse swing later to change the game. Punjab Kings moved to the top of the table with their fourth win, while Mumbai lost a fourth straight match. (espncricinfo.com) The Indian Express linked that turnaround to two off-field inputs: Arshdeep’s Instagram reels, which he said help him connect with fans, and a pep talk from coach Ricky Ponting before the Mumbai match. The same coverage said Ponting had pushed him back toward simple execution after a slow start to the season. (indianexpress.com) That is the IPL pitch to both sponsors and teams in April 2026: keep showing up in the moments fans already recognize, whether it is a raised-hands ad cue before the broadcast break or a left-arm seamer nailing yorkers at the death. (passionateinmarketing.com, espncricinfo.com)