India is a nation where star power has always reigned supreme over the actual game of cricket since the game’s boom in the country. And thanks to the Star Sports Network and streaming services like JioHotstar, these bodies have further fuelled this nonsensical approach to promoting upcoming series and tournaments of the Indian cricket team among viewers. But a massive marketing blunder from JioHotstar has now been brought to light by one of the most prominent umpires in the game today regarding the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.
Veteran umpire Richard Kettleborough has taken aim at a major marketing blunder by JioHotstar. He recently targeted a promotional poster for the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup that prioritises star power over actual squad logic.
Kettleborough, known for his calm demeanour on the field, didn’t hold back on social media. Referring to a JioHotstar poster, he asked the question many fans were already whispering: “What the hell are Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant doing in the poster?”
JioHotstar and Star Sports poster for ICC T20 World Cup 2026
But the question is, what the hell are Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant doing in the poster? pic.twitter.com/iRWBDky855
— Richard Kettleborough (@RichKettle07) December 22, 2025
In case you have been living under a rock, neither Gill nor Pant is part of the newly announced Indian squad for the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place in February next year. Whereas Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are part of the squad, with the latter selected to lead the team in the tournament.
Kettleborough’s tweet strikes at a growing frustration within the Indian fan base. For a long time, fans have been clamouring on social media and criticising JioHotstar’s approach of prioritising “star power” over the actual game of cricket.
Why does the streaming giant opt for this strategy every time a big tournament nears? It’s simple. A large portion of Indian cricket viewers are accustomed to watching their favourite players on television or smartphone screens instead of enjoying the game itself.
This scenario started way back in the 1980s with Kapil Dev. Then we witnessed Sachin Tendulkar, who is nothing short of a cricketing deity now. And then arrived Virat Kohli, who has literally shattered the standards of prominence in a cricket-loving country like India.
In the corporate boardroom, players like Gill and Pant are the so-called brand ambassadors of the game. They sell subscriptions. They sell ad spots to pan-masala and other brands. But for the cricket purist, their prominence on a World Cup poster represents the “star culture” that is slowly eroding the sanctity of a team sport.
This marketing strategy treats the Indian cricket team not as a sporting unit, but as a boy band where certain members are pushed to the front based on their Instagram followers and endorsement potential. What’s even more baffling is that the broadcaster seemed so confident about these players’ selection that it went ahead with the campaign well before the actual squad was even announced.
The controversy comes at a time when JioHotstar is already under fire for its “profit at all costs” approach. Recent reports suggest the broadcaster has been trying to arm-twist the ICC to exit its $3 billion media rights deal, citing massive losses.
Simultaneously, fans have been vocal about the declining quality of the viewing experience on JioHotstar, along with intrusive AR (augmented reality) ads and adult-oriented or condom advertisements that pop up between overs.
When an elite official like Kettleborough, someone who sees the game from the inside, publicly calls out a broadcaster’s promotional material, it signals a breaking point.
If the faces on a poster are chosen by marketing executives rather than by those who actually know which players are part of the squad and which are not, the “World Cup” starts to look less like a global tournament and more like a high-budget soap opera. It’s time for JioHotstar to realise that while stars might bring audiences in, it’s the integrity of the game that keeps them there. Stay tuned for more updates.
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