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On 4 May, the CEO of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Rahul Johri, launched the new Indian team jersey. The jerseys bear the name of the new official team sponsors, Oppo, on the front.
Indian cricketers will be seen sporting the new kits in the upcoming Champions Trophy to be held in England and Wales from 1 June.
The familiar blue Indian kit has come a long way. From yellow stripes to bold fonts, here’s a look at the evolution of the Indian cricket jersey in pictures.
1985
Over 30 years back is when we could trace India’s transformation from the classic whites to a yellow and blue jersey. No sponsor names and bold text, this was the simplest jersey India had.
1992
The early 1990s saw cricketing nations across the world get uniform kits in varying colours. Back then, India had an indigo-coloured jersey with coloured stripes on the shoulders.
1996
More than twenty years ago, India’s jersey was a combination of yellow and pale (read: sad) shade of blue. The jersey had alternate white and yellow horizontal stripes and a stand-out yellow collar. It also had random rainbow coloured arrows running across the chest and down the sleeves.
1999
The yellow stripes and arrows were transformed into a yellow pattern with a black border running across the chest diagonally. The bright yellow stand-out collar was given a black border, highlighting it even more.
2003
The Indian jersey received a massive face-lift; this one good. Yellow was mostly replaced with new black patches on the sides of the kit. Brushstrokes of the Indian tricolour and ‘India’ in bold yellow font stood out on the front of the jersey. Both sides of the trackpants and one side of the collar received small Indian flags as well.
2007
The Indian squad’s jersey got a lot classier in 2007, with the Indian tricolour moving from the centre to a neater panel on the side. The black patches were removed, the blue shade of the jersey lightened and ‘India’ was printed in a new font. The tracks lost the black bands and received some fancy cuts on the knees.
2011
The 2011 jersey is clearly etched in every cricket fan’s mind, mainly because that was the year the squad won the World Cup after a long gap of 28 years. The shade of blue became the darkest it has ever been. Orange was added to the sides and the text.
2015
In January 2015, the Indian squad’s jersey got another makeover. The highlight was that each kit, including the jersey and the bottom, was made out of an average of 33 recycled plastic bottles.
March 2017
Sportswear maker Nike and the Board of Control for Cricket in India unveiled a new jersey for the Indian women and men’s ODI teams on 13 January.
The Indian men were seen sporting the new kits in the ODI and T20 series against England starting 15 January. Not only was the kit a couple of shades darker than the previous one, it also had two new features – ‘4D Quickness’ and ‘Zero Distractions’ – for better stretch, temperature regulation and maximising performance.
(This story was first published on 12 January 2017. It is being republished from The Quint's archives to mark the unveiling of the new Team India jersey.)
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