Amul to sponsor New Zealand team in Champions Trophy

VADODARA: Home grown dairy giant

Amul

will be prime sponsor of the

New Zealand cricket

team in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy that will start on June 1 in England.

The logo of brand Amul which boasts of an annual sales turnover of Rs 27,000 crore (US $ 4.2 billion) will appear on the sleeve of Blackcaps playing jerseys as well as on the training kits throughout the upcoming tournament.

“We are excited about being associated with

New Zealand

cricket for the first time and Amul welcomes the Blackcaps to the family,” R S Sodhi, managing director of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) – the apex body that markets brand Amul said.

“Coming from a strong farming and cooperative dairy culture, the New Zealand association is a perfect fit, reflecting our quality and values,” he said.

“We are delighted to have Amul on board and hopefully this is the beginning of a long-term relationship,” said James Wear, commercial director for New Zealand Cricket.

The ODI tournament sees New Zealand ranked fourth in the world just behind India and will see one of their strongest line-ups heading to the United Kingdom with a number of key in form players fresh from IPL.

New Zealand is also the world's number one T20 team as per the

ICC

Rankings.

The first time New Zealand will play with Amul on the shirt is a warm up match with India on May 28 followed by Sri Lanka on May 30.

The group matches of the New Zealand team are scheduled versus Australia on June 2, England on June 6 and Bangladesh on June 9. The top two teams of both groups will advance to the semi finals.