New Delhi: Fantasy gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) has been picked as the apparel sponsor of the Indian cricket team for a period of three years.

A member of the Apex Council confirmed the development on Monday that BCCI has inked the apparel and merchandise deal with MPL, replacing Nike.

"Yes, Apex Council has passed the sponsorship deal for the apparel of Indian team (men, women, A and U19).

"However the rate per match will be Rs 65 lakh per game instead of Rs 88 lakh that Nike was giving," the senior official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

While Puma and Adidas had earlier picked up the bid papers for apparel sponsorship, they didn't fill the bid as they felt that the deal needed to be reduced to one third from the original bid.

Nike had a five-year deal during which they paid Rs 370 crore from 2016 to 2020 with a 30 crore royalty.

"No sporting apparel major was ready to pay that kind of money that Nike paid in the current economic climate (due to COVID-19).

"One of the major reasons being merchandise items being very costly for common public," the source said.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Two men have been arrested for allegedly cheating a city resident of Rs 48 lakh on the pretext of providing high-quality ayurvedic medicines to cure his health issues, police said on Wednesday.

The accused were identified as Vijay Pradhan Chitodiya (42) and Manoj Singh Chitodiya (29), both natives of Miraj taluk in Sangli district, Maharashtra, police said.

With the arrests, police seized 17 types of ayurvedic medicines, a tempo traveller allegedly used in the offence, and Rs 19.50 lakh in cash. The total value of the seized drugs, cash and vehicle is estimated at Rs 23.50 lakh, they added.

The investigation revealed that the duo had been setting up roadside tents across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other parts of the country, cheating people by offering low-quality medicines for various health issues, a senior police officer said.

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The case came to light on November 22 after the victim, a resident of Whitefield, filed a complaint at the Jnanabharathi police station.

In his complaint, he said he had been suffering from sexual health issues since his marriage three years ago. Seeking treatment, he approached a roadside tent near KLE Law College, where medicines for urological ailments were being sold.

"One of the men at the tent told him that their ‘guruji’ provides high-quality ayurvedic medicines for such problems. ‘Guruji’ was called to the spot and introduced to him. He claimed he could supply premium medicine costing Rs 1 to Rs 2 lakh per gram, and collected Rs 48 lakh from him," the officer said.

However, the accused allegedly supplied poor-quality medicine, which caused adverse health effects, thereby cheating him, the officer added.

Based on the complaint, a case of cheating was registered at the Jnanabharathi police station.

During the investigation, Vijay, who posed as the ‘Guruji’, was traced to Mahabubnagar in Telangana and arrested on November 27, police said.

During questioning, he allegedly confessed to the crime and identified his accomplice. Manoj was subsequently arrested in Cyberabad, Telangana, on December 1, they added.