Till 10pm the day before yesterday, Vignesh Puthur was a nobody. Some nerds who follow cricket 24/7 had heard of him, but for the rest of India, he was an unknown commodity. And then, it all changed with the three wickets at the Chepauk. Analytics show he was one of the most-searched names around 10pm on Sunday, and is now a story that is nationally known. Vignesh, overnight, is a celebrity and that’s what brings us to brand IPL and its aura.
Ishan Kishan scored a 100 on his comeback in the Buchi Babu tournament. No more than two lines were written. Kishan then scored a 100 on debut for SRH and is the toast of the nation. The very same for Vignesh. One half-decent performance in the IPL and you are a national celebrity overnight. That’s what the brand is capable of, and that’s what explains the crazy support for the tournament the nation over.
Is brand IPL bigger than even the World Cup in cricket? Is it the best property global cricket has seen? The answer is a definitive YES. The IPL brand continues to be robust despite all the challenges, and will continue to grow in the future.
Imagine Shah Rukh Khan coming out to support a Ranji Trophy team. Or for that matter, Anushka Sharma being present regularly to watch Virat Kohli ply his trade for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy. Will they be able to draw thousands to the stadium every day, or is it something about the IPL brand that has captured people’s imagination?
Even when he left for Mumbai Indians’ camp, Vignesh Puthur had few expectations that he would play. But after a stunning debut at Chepauk, can the left-arm wrist-spinner from Kerala be this season’s bolter?
RevSportz Comment.#VigneshPuthur #IPL2025 https://t.co/R5Z5uflN4q
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) March 24, 2025
The answer is a no-brainer. The IPL caters to a larger constituency of the Indian populace than any other sporting event, and that’s what explains its success despite the many challenges over the years. And most importantly, cricket has stayed at the core of the brand. You needed Vignesh to pick up those three wickets for the story to become as big. You needed him to deliver with his bowling. Unless the IPL was a serious cricket competition, it would never have been able to capture the fancy of the fans. As season 18 starts to gather momentum, it will remain the brand that we celebrate – India’s only global sports brand, which helps create stars and stories like Vignesh Puthur.
You do not need to wine and dine people for the next two months. All you need to do is invite them to the IPL to watch the world’s best franchise league being played out in front of you. People, and here I mean the high and mighty, are all vying for a piece of the IPL. The tournament’s biggest success is being able to fill stadiums for 3:30 pm games. That is something very few could have imagined.
In Kolkata, for example, 40-degree heat and 85 percent humidity is what we have in May, and yet every seat will be taken on May 7 when MS Dhoni comes to town. This is what the IPL is all about. A commercially driven, ruthlessly competitive business proposition with its dedicated base of global followers, and yet, there are stories like Vignesh’s that happen every now and then. Clearly it is unique, a tournament with its heart in the right place.
The post Vignesh Puthur story highlights strength of Brand IPL appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports.
