IPDC and Sylhet Strikers create partnership based on shared belief

The recently concluded edition of BPL saw a new incarnation of the Sylhet franchise of this annual tournament. And it was not merely a change of franchise name like some previous occasions. Sylhet Strikers, the said new incarnation, joined the grandest T20 league in Bangladesh with a completely new belief, mindset and attitude, said a press release.

This time they found a leader in arguably the most successful captain of the country, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. Unlike the Sylhet Franchise, their new skipper had an incredibly good track record in BPL winning the title four times for three different teams.

The new Sylhet team under a new captain, captain fantastic, vowed to change the fortune of the franchise. The squad of Strikers put on their vibrant magenta kit. The Narail Express started organizing the team. And at that time, IPDC Finance joined them as one of their partners to script a sensational run.

The brand IPDC is an advocate of youth that talks about nurturing the bud to see it bloom to a flower. It is a brand that encourages the journey of growing from a dot to a boom, rising upward passionately to live large; to "Live Unbound", as it says in the motto of the brand.

IPDC as a brand is a promoter of the power of the youth. One of the three core purposes of the brand is empowering today's youth for a tomorrow we aspire to see. IPDC works as an enabler to the young generation who offer unbelievable possibilities.

In Sylhet Strikers, IPDC saw a force that shared the same belief of trusting the youth. It was a partnership based on shared values and a belief in the power of youth. This similarity in belief meant opportunity for IPDC to add to the brand's brand equity.

Compared to other teams, Sylhet Strikers showed less concern to purchase big names as foreign recruits, although overseas players have always had huge impact in BPL history. Guided by the cricketing mind of Mashrafe, the franchise took a strategy of building a team mostly with local young talents. The young recruits were also empowered with key roles in the team.

The franchise owners of Sylhet were the type of management that left the job of taking cricketing decisions to the experts. They understood the value of empowering the team. And they wanted to prove that they were here to stay. Their actions proved the vision they have.

The franchise arranged a pacer hunt program at Sylhet to search for young talents who can be groomed to be an asset not only for Sylhet Strikers, but also for the national side. This, in a word, is a pure contribution to our cricket. And this also shows the franchise is serious about believing in youth.

IPDC embraced the purpose of the franchise. The brand found a match in philosophy. To IPDC, partnering is not just about placing the logo. It is more about promoting a shared belief. In this case, sports or you may say BPL, was the medium to carry that belief.

Cricket and cricketers have a massive fan following in Bangladesh and can evoke strong emotions among the fans. Again, cricket is a sport that requires strategy, skill, and teamwork, and cricketers are often seen as role models for their dedication and discipline. So, for IPDC, journey with the strikers was a journey to connect with audience emotionally and rationally.

During matches, IPDC connected with the audience with catchy copy about match updates or results.

But the presence of icons like Mashrafe or Mushfique meant that the brand could leverage the qualities of those experienced campaigners to showcase the rational appeal of their products, demonstrating how they are backed by expertise and precision. It provided the brand with unparalleled credibility.

Tthis year's BPL was dominated by the team's young recruits like Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Tawhid Hridoy, Zakir Hasan, Tanzim Hasan Sakib among others. They were given the freedom to trust themselves. These talented young men were empowered to flourish. When the tournament began, little did IPDC know that Sylhet Strikers were going to be champions of group stage and then end-up being a finalist. The team could have even lost all the matches they played. But it is not the results with which IPDC was concerned. It was the shared belief on the strength of youth that made the two entities form the beautiful partnership.