As a determined Sachin Tendulkar gears up to spearhead India’s World Cup cricket campaign, mobile operator Hutch, one of the official sponsors of the World Cup, has complained to the International Cricket Council (ICC) about his endorsing its arch rival Reliance Communications’ telecom products.Commenting that this amounts to ambush marketing, a Hutch spokesperson said that players taking part in the World Cup are not allowed to endorse the competitors of the sponsors and Hutch was the global sponsor of the mega event. “The company has taken it up with the ICC, saying this is illegal. None of the participating players can endorse competition because Hutch is the global sponsor of the ICC World Cup,” the spokesperson said.“This amounts to ambush marketing and despite Hutch writing to the ICC over a week back, the world cricket body has so far not taken any action on this front,” he added. Tendulkar features in the Indian squad, which played its first World Cup match on Saturday against Bangladesh.
