'Dream11 IPL is altered version of Vivo IPL'

New Delhi: Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), on Tuesday questioned the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI's) decision to award the title sponsorship rights for the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to fantasy league platform Dream11.

"#Dream11ipl is altered version of #VIVOIPL as it has a major stake in @TencentGlobal. Why #IPL2020 is choosing companies having Chinese money, in utter neglect of China's behaviour against India. (sic.)," Khandelwal tweeted hours after the news of Dream11 winning the title sponsorship broke.

Earlier, Cricket Association of Bihar Secretary Aditya Verma had said the development was against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative.

"As a well-wisher of Indian sports, I wish and pray that IPL 13 is held successfully in the UAE," Verma told IANS.

"However, with Dream11 becoming the title sponsor of IPL, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' will be dented as Dream11 has Chinese connection. It has also come to the fore that the company has a huge investment in one of the IPL franchises," he added.

Vivo and the BCCI suspended a Rs 440 crore per year deal for this season owing to the border stand-off between India and China. The IPL starts on September 19 in the UAE, moved out of India due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year.

There are questions about Chinese company Tencent's investment in Dream11.

While the BCCI received Rs 440 crore per year from Vivo, Dream11 will pay BCCI Rs 222 crore for the upcoming edition.