Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma in motion throughout Indian Premier League conflict towards Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India, March 29, 2026. — ReutersÂ
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s leisure enterprise JioStar has terminated its broadcast offers in Bangladesh for the Indian Premier League cricket match, saying its native associate defaulted on funds, based on a doc seen by Reuters.
Bangladesh in January banned IPL broadcasts after certainly one of its groups, Kolkata Knight Riders, dropped Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman on the Indian cricket board’s instruction, simply as tensions rose between the 2 international locations following the killing of a Hindu man in Bangladesh.
Although Bangladesh is reviewing the ban and had on Saturday mentioned any additional steps will rely upon the opinion of its sports activities ministry, the termination by JioStar means there shall be no native broadcaster for the IPL season, even when the nation had been to alter its stance.
“The agreement stands terminated with immediate effect,” JioStar mentioned in a letter dated February 17 to Bangladesh broadcaster TSports, which had sublicensed the rights from JioStar for IPL seasons from 2023 to 2027.
The corporate cited its associate’s “continued failure and default in adhering to the payment timelines stipulated under the agreement”.
JioStar, a three way partnership of Ambani’s Reliance and Walt Disney, didn’t reply to Reuters queries. TSports and Bangladesh’s sports activities and data ministries additionally didn’t reply to requests for remark.
IPL, the world’s richest cricket league valued at $18.5 billion, enjoys enormous recognition among the many cricket-viewing public in Bangladesh, the place the sport is an obsession like it’s in the remainder of the subcontinent. Its newest season began on March 28.
India-Bangladesh relations have been strained since a political transition in Dhaka in August 2024 disrupted beforehand shut ties beneath former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to New Delhi after a mass rebellion.
However there are indicators of a thaw within the relations after Tarique Rahman, the newly shaped authorities’s prime minister, mentioned in February that Bangladesh would have interaction on the idea of mutual respect and shared pursuits with its neighbours.
A separate JioStar letter, additionally dated February 17, confirmed the corporate has additionally terminated its broadcast offers in Bangladesh for the Ladies’s Premier League cricket match over related defaults.
