Rajasthan Royals, the Indian Premier League champions in its inaugural year in 2008 have signed a sponsorship deal with sanitary pad brand — Niine, challenging the country’s entrenched taboos about menstruation.
Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, who will feature for Rajasthan Royals when the tournament will be held abroad in UAE in 2020 hoped that the deal will help educate men on a large scale.
Rajasthan Royals: Niine Logo Will Be On Back Of Player Jerseys
Deep-rooted social taboos exist still around menstruating women since in rural areas women sleep separately during periods and are even banned to enter temples. The Niine logo will be on the back of player jerseys for the IPL tournament was postponed to September after being originally slated for March in India due to Covid-19. Awareness and addressing health and social customs through the most viewed sport cricket will be endorsed by the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals.
“Cricket undoubtedly is the most-watched sport in the country and provides the perfect platform to address health and drive social change,” the Royals said in a statement.
“Rajasthan Royals are poised to be the vehicle that will help educate men through the IPL 2020 season by building not only awareness but also understanding on a grand scale,” the statement added.
? @NiineIndia, welcome to the #RoyalsFamily! ?
This #IndependenceDay onwards, let's free ourselves from period stigma once and for all. ? #HallaBol | #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/Wb8ri3Zb5s
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) August 15, 2020
A Royals spokesperson declined to give financial details of the deal when approached by AFP.
Rajasthan Royals Team Combination For IPL 2020
Ajinkya Rahane was initially appointed captain at the start of the season in 2019 but was replaced by Steve Smith after a string of poor results. Steve Smith came back after being banned for one year due to the Australian ball-tampering controversy. Rajasthan Royals was banned for two years in 2016 and 2017 along with Chennai Super Kings due to involvement in spot-fixing.
Rajasthan Royals will try to win IPL 2020 for the second time after winning it in 2008 and have several players like former Australian captain Steve Smith who will also lead the franchise besides also boosting international stars like David Miller of South Africa, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer of England, Andrew Tye of Australia and Oshane Thomas of West Indies. Indian cricketers like Sanju Samson, Robin Uthappa, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Gopal are some of the others in their lineup.
Several former and current cricketers like India’s Stuart Binny, Rahul Dravid, Faiz Fazal, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Kaif, Yousuf Pathan, Munaf Patel, Australia’s James Faulkner, Brad Hodge, Shane Warne, Shane Watson, England’s Owais Shah, and South Africa’s Graeme Smith had appeared for Rajasthan Royals.