Robi buys sponsorship rights of Bangladesh cricket team

Dhaka, May 21 (IANS) Private mobile phone operator Robi has bought the sponsorship rights of the Bangladesh cricket team.

Media planning agency Top of Mind, which had bought the sponsorship right for two years, sold it to Robi Axiata Ltd. that will sponsor the team for the first time, announced Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) marketing committee chief Kazi Inam Ahmed on Thursday, reports bdnews24.com.

Top of Mind beat Grameenphone in the final tender with a bid of 414.1 million taka on Wednesday to earn the rights.

In June 2012, Indian firm Sahara had outbid Grameenphone, who had sponsored the Bangladesh team for eight years, to sponsor the team with a $14 million four-year deal. BCB ended the contract with the Aamby Valley (Mauritius) Ltd., an affiliate of Sahara Group, 15 months before the term was to end.

Later, the rights were sold to Top of Mind for the Pakistan series but the board did not disclose how much the deal was worth.

India will tour Bangladesh for a Test and three One-Day Internationals (ODI) from June 10 to 24. The one-off Test at Fatullah's Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium will begin on June 10 while the day-night ODIs will be played at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on June 18, 21 and 24.