SiXiT Names Arshdeep Singh Brand Ambassador as It Eyes ₹300 Crore Target

Introduction

When was the last time a cricket brand grew from the bottom up rather than the top down? Most sporting goods companies chase the aspirational consumer — the academy player, the club cricketer, the gear enthusiast. SiXiT did the opposite. It started where Indian cricket actually lives: narrow lanes, concrete pitches, and weekend tournaments with a tennis ball. Now, five years in, the Madurai-based brand is ready to scale — and it has signed fast bowler Arshdeep Singh to lead the charge. Here is why this story deserves more than a passing glance.

What Just Happened

SiXiT, a cricket equipment company founded in 2019, has announced a significant expansion of its product portfolio. The brand, which built its reputation in the cricket tennis-ball segment, is now entering the leather cricket ball, cricket bat, cricket kit, and footwear categories.

To mark this shift, the company has brought in Indian fast bowler Arshdeep Singh as brand ambassador for its cricket ball range. Alongside the ambassador announcement, SiXiT has also introduced a refreshed visual identity — a signal that this is not just a product launch but a full brand repositioning.

The company currently earns annual revenue of around ₹125 crore and has set a target of reaching ₹300 crore within the next three years. Its manufacturing base in Madurai spans 60,000 square feet and supports a workforce of approximately 1,000 people. Products reach consumers through more than 50,000 retail outlets and leading e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit and Zepto.

A grassroots-focused marketing campaign is also in the works, built around digital content, local tournament activations and collaborations with content creators.

What This Means for Your Brand

SiXiT's expansion raises an important question for marketers across categories: how do you move upmarket without losing the community that made you?

The brand's approach offers a clear answer. Rather than abandoning its tennis-ball roots, it is using them as a bridge. The grassroots cricketer who grew up with a SiXiT tennis ball is now the same young adult who might buy a leather ball, a bat, or a full kit. The brand is simply following its own customer through their sporting journey.

Three implications stand out for Indian brand strategists:

Entry-level dominance is a long-term asset. Winning the first purchase in any category creates familiarity and trust that is very difficult for competitors to displace. SiXiT spent years earning that position in informal cricket.

Distribution infrastructure is the real competitive advantage. A network of over 2,000 distributors and 50,000 retail touchpoints took years to build. New entrants in the cricket equipment space cannot replicate this overnight. SiXiT is now leveraging this existing infrastructure for its premium range.

Ambassador selection matters more than ambassador fame. Arshdeep Singh is a top-ranked T20 bowler, but what makes him relevant here is his personal story. He began his own cricket journey on informal grounds — the exact emotional territory where SiXiT has always operated. That alignment between brand origin and ambassador background is rare and genuinely powerful.

The honest risk, however, is real. Leather cricket balls, professional bats and cricket kits are categories where established names carry decades of performance credibility. Building that trust from scratch — even with strong distribution and a well-known face — will take time and consistent product quality.

Expert Take

Bhavin Lakhlani, Sales Head at SiXiT, explained the company's thinking: millions of young players across India first experience cricket not in academies or stadiums but on local grounds and in gully matches. SiXiT grew alongside that culture and sees the shift into new product categories as a natural progression built on an already solid foundation.

Bharat Singh, Marketing and Digital Commerce Head, added that cricket participation in India is expanding across all formats — from recreational gully cricket to competitive club cricket. The brand's goal is to stay relevant to a player across every stage of that journey, not just at the beginning.

Arshdeep Singh echoed this sentiment, noting that his own early cricket experiences mirror those of millions of young Indians who start with a tennis ball on a narrow lane. His association with SiXiT, he said, feels rooted in something he genuinely identifies with rather than a purely commercial arrangement.

This kind of brand-ambassador alignment — where the spokesperson's personal story reinforces the brand's core narrative — is something many companies pay consultants significant fees to engineer. SiXiT appears to have found it organically.

The brands.in Perspective

India has no shortage of cricket brands chasing the premium consumer. What makes SiXiT's story genuinely interesting is the sequence it followed: earn trust at the grassroots level first, build distribution second, and only then attempt to move upmarket. Most brands try to do this in reverse — and most fail. The Arshdeep Singh partnership is well-considered. But the real test will come in the quality and performance of its leather balls, bats and kits when they reach competitive players. Brand affinity can open the door. Only the product can make them stay.

Key Takeaways for Marketers

• SiXiT is expanding from cricket tennis balls into leather balls, bats, kits and footwear
• Arshdeep Singh joins as brand ambassador for the cricket ball category
• Revenue ambition: ₹300 crore in three years from a current base of ₹125 crore
• Over 50,000 retail outlets already active — distribution is the core strategic moat
• Upcoming campaign will focus on grassroots cricket culture and digital storytelling

FAQ

What is SiXiT known for before this expansion? SiXiT built its reputation as a market leader in cricket tennis balls — the format widely used in informal matches, gully cricket and local tournaments across India. It has operated in this space since 2019.

Why is Arshdeep Singh a good fit for SiXiT's brand positioning? His personal cricket journey began at the grassroots level, which mirrors the origin story of SiXiT itself. That authentic connection between ambassador and brand narrative makes the partnership credible rather than purely transactional.

Where can consumers buy SiXiT products? SiXiT products are available through more than 50,000 retail outlets across India, as well as on major e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit and Zepto.

Let's Talk

Can a brand that started with tennis balls genuinely earn the trust of competitive cricketers who rely on leather equipment for serious play — or is the perception gap too wide to bridge? Share your view in the comments below.

Follow brands.in every day for brand strategy, marketing intelligence and advertising insights written specifically for India's marketing community.