IPL 2016: Gujarat Lions ropes in TVS Tyres as principal sponsor

TVS Tyres was on Monday named the principal sponsor of the Gujarat Lions franchise for the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Gujarat Lions, the newest inclusion in the IPL family, are the team representing Rajkot city under the captaincy of batsman Suresh Raina. IPL 9 will begin from April 9.

As a part of this engagement, all the players' jerseys will carry the brand 'TVS TYRES' and similar branding on their training kits.

"We are happy to partner with Gujarat Lions, which has emerged as one of the franchises to look forward to for the upcoming IPL season," TVS Srichakra Ltd. director P. Vijayaraghavan said in a release.

"This association is an exciting platform to reach out to our customers and we are confident of elevating our brand recall to a much larger audience. We wish Gujarat Lions all the luck and look forward to an exciting season of the league."

Gujarat Lions owner and Intex Technologies director Keshav Bansal said: "It is a delight to have a powerful brand like TVS Tyres as the proud partner of Gujarat Lions."

"As both TVS TYRES and Intex have been associated with sports for brand recognition and engagement, the partnership will have fruitful outcome," he said.

"We are very much thrilled about the partnership and are sure that it will help both brands reach every nook and corner of the country with the IPL."

The Gujarat Lions squad includes cricketers like Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Dinesh Karthik, Dale Steyn, Andrew Tye, Amit Mishra, Umesh Sharma and others.

Gujarat Lions will play a total of 14 matches. Of these, seven matches will be played at two of their home venues, Rajkot and Kanpur. Additionally, one Spectator stand at Rajkot/Kanpur will bear the name 'TVS TYRES Stand'.