BoycottIPL trends: The Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Governing Council on Sunday decided to retain all its sponsors, including Chinese mobile company Vivo. The IPL GC met on Sunday to discuss the road map for IPL 2020 and confirmed that the tournament will be played from September 19 to November 10 in UAE.

After the violent June 15 clash in eastern Ladakh, the central government had banned 59 apps from China including Tik Tok. Soon after the June 15 incident, the BCCI had stated that there would be a review of the IPL sponsors.

Chinese sponsorship became a bone of contention after the clashes between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh in June. The BCCI had promised to review the deals in the aftermath of the violent showdown. There was nationwide call to boycott China in the wake of the deadly clash in the Galway valley.

“Taking note of the border skirmish that resulted in the martyrdom of our brave jawans, the IPL Governing Council has convened a meeting next week to review IPL’s various sponsorship deals,” the official handle of IPL had said. However, the BCCI’s decision to stick with Vivo as title sponsors irked many fans as #BoycottIPL began trending on Twitter on Monday morning. Check out some of the best reactions below.

But the BCCI has decided to retain the Chinese sponsorship. Consequently, VIVO will continue to be the title sponsors of the cash-rich league. In December last year, Vivo retained the title sponsorship of the IPL after submitting a bid of Rs 2,199 crore over the next five years. Vivo had won the rights for IPL title sponsorship for the first time in 2016.

Twenty Indian Army men, including officers, were killed in an unprecedented violent clash with Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops at Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh.

But despite the board acknowledging the need to review the deal, there was never any indication that they will pull out of the deal especially if the financial terms did not favour the board.

“We said we will review sponsorship. Review means that we need to check all the modalities of the contract. If the ‘Exit Clause’ favours VIVO more, why should we terminate a Rs 440 crore per year contract. We will only terminate if ‘Exit Clause’ favours us,” a Board official had told PTI.

Sudden termination of the contract would not only see the board lose out on a substantial amount of money in sponsorship but they would also have had to possibly pay compensation to Vivo.

There was also some doubt as to whether BCCI would get another sponsor to match that amount of money at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has damaged the economy.