VRIDDI 3.

Annual agship Business Conclave

MarkWiz 2.0
a marketing case challenge

Introduction
A2 Cricket Pvt. Ltd. is a start-up founded by Arindam Aggarwal in 2017.

(https://a2cricket.com)
Arindam Aggarwal studied Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bristol,
U.K. and was an active member of his University Cricket Club. Having played
cricket since a tender age, Arindam always dreamt of designing his own Cricket
Bats as he took inspiration from the various Bats he outsourced from England and
Australia. He was captain of various teams he played with, starting with Junior
School level till his current position at the B-league of his County.

A2 Cricket is one of the best Cricket Bats Manufacturing Companies. A2 Cricket

aims to provide Cricket bats handcrafted from the purest of A-Grade English Willow
and formed into contemporary bat pro les. A2 Cricket has grown to have a
dexterous team of craftsmen, who at our brand-new workshop in Lucknow, India,
are producing some beautiful pieces of willow. We aspire to become India’s only
premium cricket brand, catering to customers who admire the craft behind bat-
making and cherish the values of a truly handcrafted product.

The company based in Lucknow, clocked Rs.1Crore revenue in 2nd year of

operations, with 100% year on year growth and is poised to hit Rs.3 crore this scal
year.

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Annual agship Business Conclave

Valuation: Current Valuation 7X of revenue – 22 crores

Note: Premium sports clothing and Kitbag manufacturing unit to be launched

Target Valuation 2026-27: Rs.100 to 300 crores

Current Brand Ambassador is Indian Woman Cricketer/Captain MITHALI RAJ.

Several international stars/IPL stars like Sri Lankan Mohd. Farvez Maharoof, South
African Thando Ntini, Zimbabwean Neville Madziva, Indian Woman Cricketer Anuja
Patil, Sudeshan Midhun of Rajasthan Royals are some of the sponsored star
cricketers of A2Cricket.

Currently 35+ international players are using A2 cricket gear.

Go-to-market strategy
Getting more cricketing icons on board as advisors/ambassadors for marketing and
increasing brand reach. VENTURING INTO NEW SPORTS (for Eg. Football) where
there is a gap for premium high quality Indian brand. From 2021 onwards A2 started
supplying Cricket batting pads, gloves, kitbags, & cricket balls. New Soft-Gear Unit
developed using the best craftsmen in India, leading to the nest products being
made in the world. Kitbag manufacturing to begin soon. Premium sports clothing to
be launched soon. A2Cricket is rst to market fully customised kit for direct
customers.

In India the dealer network consists of top cricket stores (dealers) in top cities and
the network is increasing.

Getting more cricketing icons on board as advisors/ambassadors for marketing and

increasing brand reach. VENTURING INTO NEW SPORTS (for Eg. Football) where
there is a gap for premium high quality Indian brand

USPs: Make in India, Premium quality cricket equipment

The industry:
The cricket equipment market value is projected to grow by $ 2.50 mn at a CAGR of
3.47%  during 2021-2025. The cricket equipment market report extensively covers
market  segmentations by Product (Cricket bats, Cricket balls, Cricket protective
gears, and Others), Distribution Channel (O ine and Online), and Geography (APAC,
EMEA, and Americas) and potential market drivers that the vendors are capitalizing
on to sustain pro table growth.

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Modern bats are usually hand-made in the Indian sub-continent (India or Pakistan)
due to the low cost of labour. However a few specialists in  England,  Australia,
and New Zealand still make bats.  English Willow cricket bat market consists of bats
which are actually made in India from imported English willow.

Key brands:
Gray Nicols, CA (Pakistan), Adidas AG, Beat All Sports(BAS), Kookaburra Sport Pty
Ltd, Nike Inc., PUMA SE, Sanspareils Greenlands Pvt Ltd(SG)., Sareen Sports

Industries(SS), Gunn and Moore, Sommers Sports, Spartan, Sports Direct

International plc, The Unicorn Group are a few of the key vendors in the cricket
equipment market. The Indian market has other several local brands mostly around
Meerut (UP) and Jallandhar (Punjab) and around Anantnag (Kashmir) which are into
making low-cost cricket bats with Kashmir willow and local wood for use against
tennis balls. Brands like MRF (Tyre makers) also are into cricket bat retailing
following their association with superstar cricketers like Brian Lara, Sachin
Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

SG and SS
The two brands that are currently ruling the cricket equipment market are SG
(owned by Anand family) and SS (Owned by Sareen family). The current turnovers of
these companies are approximately Rs.150 crores and Rs. 90 crores respectively.
SG sells approximately 4 lakh bats and SS sells approximately 2.2 lakh bats per
anum.

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Key established Markets:

India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, USA, UK, Australia, Caribbean Islands New
Zealand and Kenya.

Emerging markets:
West Africa, Netherlands, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia.

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Business Problem De nition

A2 Cricket wants to make it big. Post Covid with the market for cricket and outdoor
sport opening – the young entrepreneur Mr.Arindam Agarwal, does not want to lose
time and wishes to be in the league of top 5 cricket brands in India and a
recognizable sports brand with forays into Football and other sports and reach
Rs.100 crore mark within 5 scal years.

As a MARKETING CONSULTING GROUP, you are appointed to quickly advise the

business. Your document/advice has to include:

1.Quick crystal ball gazing of industry for next 3-5 years

2.Opportunities ahead for a New quality brand like A2Cricket.

3.Go to market strategy that should include – Focus markets/segments, Channel

plan, User connect, other Marketing Mix decisions like price positioning and
brand promotion including digital strategy. Also plans if any to associate with
grassroot sport development for juniors and women cricketers.

4.Any other innovative approach to reach the goals identi ed.

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