The “men in blue” is what we address our players. “#Bleed blue” a Nike campaign in 2011 oozed out the importance of the blue color. Counting back from the 1980s the cricket sports jersey has been exploring various shades of blues. But why has it been blue? Let’s settle this with a timeline understanding of how we got the color.
1985: Here is where we adopted a light blue jersey. This happened during the World Championship of Cricket, 1985.
1992: For the world cup in 1992, India shifted to oxford or dark blue. The team name came in the front while the player’s name was printed back. This so far has been one of the most popular Indian cricket jerseys.
1994: Sachin’s first ODI had us see a drastic change in the colors of the jersey. It was pictured as yellow jerseys and light blue jersey pants to pair with.
1996: This time India wore a jersey with a lighter shade of blue which came with yellow color on the jersey top. The collar of the jersey was also yellow. During the world cup 1996, every team had colored arrows rounding up the jersey.
1997: BCCI showed its logo on the Indian jersey.
1998: Here we got to see the Indian flag on the shoulder and the BCCI logo remained persistent.
2003: This world cup had players wearing a light blue jersey, where the tricolor of India ran across in the center. India was printed in yellow on this tricolor. By this time a dramatic change was observed. Blue became darker and yellow parted ways.
2007: The light blue came back on the jerseys. There was a tricolor running down the jersey from the right shoulder.
2011: A saffron touch to the slightly dark blue jersey saw us win the memorable world cup after 28 years.
2019: This year we skipped having a clash with England’s sky blue jersey by bringing a saffron tint. Predominantly it remained blue but orange and saffron covered the sleeves and the back.
2020: The dark blue jersey came back in the picture. Similar to that of 1992, the jersey reflected upon the retro look of the Indian cricket team. The jersey has three stars that represent India’s victory in the three World Cups, 1983 – World Cup, 2007 – T20 World Cup, and 2011 – World Cup.
Today jerseys are valuable, but also the cricket experience of a fan. Technology provides various tools like a cricket sports app to enhance a fan experience. So even if you are out of home, you can always keep a check on cricket scores at any point in time.
There is even something called a cricket fantasy app, where you can make your dream team and play winning matches on the go. It’s true, all the cricket evolution from jerseys to technological aspects are clearly visible in the eyes of the former cricket fans of the ’90s and ’00s.