Thiruvananthapuram, Apr.24 (ANI): Upcoming fast bowler Shantakumaran Sreesanth on Tuesday said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) decision to restrict a cricketer's endorsement deals to just three was not correct.

"Cricket is our life, and profession. If an engineer is allowed to become a model and work for advertisements, what's wrong if we do it. Cricket is a religion in India and if you can sell the product why not do it? Advertisements will not affect performance of a cricketer," Sreesanth said at a function.

The BCCI had decided earlier this month that players would need to obtain permission from it before entering into endorsement contracts.

India is considered the corporate nerve-centre of the game and endorsements by Indian players run into millions of rupees.

Leading batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who is observing his 34th birthday today, currently endorses 11 products.

Cricket-themed campaigns worth millions of dollars -- selling everything from consumer goods and electronics to automobiles and financial services -- were yanked out of the media as companies tried to disassociate their brands from the cricketers after the national team crashed out of the World Cup.

India is a major market for the five major global cricket sponsors -- South Korea's LG Electronics, PepsiCo Inc, Hutchison Telecom, motorcycle maker Hero Honda and Indian Oil.

All have been hit by India's early exit from the World Cup, with total losses estimated at nearly 37 million dollars, industry officials said.

Television and print commercials featuring cricketers, who until the World Cup debacle were more in demand than film stars, have been withdrawn by Pepsi, electronics firms Videocon and Sansui and consumer goods company ITC, among others.

India's advertising market grew 23 percent in 2006 to 3.6 billion dollars and is forecast to expand 18 percent in 2007 on the back of booming economic growth.

Advertisers said India's disastrous World Cup would also mean more stringent contracts for cricketers with performance clauses so that some returns are guaranteed.

They said the cult status of cricketers would be re-evaluated, and like the stock market, they would see corrections in valuation and their pricing. (ANI)

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