Contract being exchanged Photo © CricInfo

CricInfo.com, the world's leading cricket web site, and Anmol Company have signed a sponsorship agreement making Nirala Sweets the sponsors of CricInfo's live internet coverage of the current domestic cricket season in Pakistan. The company also brought cricket fans CricInfo's live internet coverage of Pakistan's recent victory in the Khaleej Times Trophy in Sharjah.

The Nirala Sweets logo appears on the scorecards of all CricInfo live coverage of all domestic cricket played this season in Pakistan on the official Pakistan website, www.pcb.cricinfo.com. As part of the deal, Nirala Sweets is also sponsoring a regular exclusive column by Pakistan coach Mudassar Nazar, and the audio section of the site.

The domestic coverage sponsored by Nirala Sweets includes the Patron's Trophy, the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy and the Under 19s matches. It is the first time that CricInfo has entered into a partnership with a company to sponsor domestic cricket in Pakistan.

Confectionary manufacturer Nirala Sweets, which has its Headquarters in Lahore, has outlets in all major cities in Pakistan, as well as in Dubai, UAE. The company produces mithai, the popular Pakistani milk based confectionary.

Mr Faisal Farooq, CEO, said during the contract signing on 19 October 2001, "We are pleased to sponsor the coverage of Pakistan domestic cricket on the modern Internet media. Lately we have become very aware of the advertising potential offered by this media as well as the phenomenal growth in related IT within Pakistan. We hope our efforts go towards promoting Pakistani cricket at home and abroad as well as helping to grow Information Technology in Pakistan."

CricInfo Pakistan's Chief Executive Suhael Ahmed said: "The deal with Nirala Sweets is excellent for both parties. Every time a user comes on to CricInfo to check the score of their favourite team in Pakistan domestic cricket, or to read Mudassar's column, they will see the Nirala Sweets logo. This represents excellent global branding and targeted advertising for the company at the fraction of the price of more traditional advertising media."

CricInfo Limited is the world's leading digital cricket information company. CricInfo's web site, www.cricinfo.com, is the most popular cricket site in the world and is among the internet's most popular sports sites, estimated to reach more than fifteen million fans in 180 countries.

The site records around 100 million page impressions per month, with March 2001's total of 254,599,866 (audited by ABC) being the highest to date.

CricInfo has its Head Office in the UK, with regional offices in Sri Lanka, Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Satyam Infoway Limited (NASDAQ: SIFY), India's leading internet services and e-commerce company, acquired a 25% stake in CricInfo last year.

CricInfo works with cricket boards and cricket organisations, blue chip companies and the media to deliver cricket content for a wide range of different platforms. It currently produces official sites for eight of the ten Test-playing countries, for the ICC and for a number of domestic teams worldwide.