When Indian cricketer Shreyas Iyer was named the official brand ambassador for the F1 Sim Racing India Open 2026, India’s first Formula 1-sanctioned esports racing competition, it felt less like a marketing stunt and more like a signal. A decorated international cricketer, fronting a competitive gaming initiative built around real-world Formula 1 circuits, Iyer's appointment put to rest any lingering doubt that mainstream sports and esports are converging in India.
The collaboration is emblematic of a broader trend reshaping the Indian esports landscape. Athletes, cricketers in particular, are increasingly appearing alongside gaming titles, esports tournaments, and digital communities—not merely as endorsers, but as bridges between two distinct worlds of fandom. The question worth asking is whether this convergence is building something durable or simply generating attention.
A Market Ready for the Spotlight
The timing is not accidental. According to the Coherent Market Insights 2026 report, the Indian esports market is estimated at $240.3 million in 2026, with sponsorship and advertising projected to hold the largest revenue share at 62.2%—reflecting how seriously brands are beginning to treat the space. Mobile gaming sits at the centre of this growth, powered by a young, digitally native audience. This is the same demographic that follows cricketers on Instagram and watches gaming content on YouTube simultaneously.
Santanu Basu, CEO of the Indian Super Gaming League, says “There are 4.5 lakh gaming YouTube channels in India, generating over a billion views. Kids today watch more gaming content than traditional sports.” Against this backdrop, it is easy to see why athletes are attractive to esports organisers and brands alike. They come with established fanbases, cultural credibility, and mainstream media pull, commodities that an industry still building its popular identity can use.
The Credibility Gap
Those within the ecosystem are careful to separate visibility from value. Nimish Raut, Global Head of Esports Partnerships & Special Projects at NODWIN Gaming, acknowledges the reach that athletes bring but draws a clear line. He adds, “Traditional sports stars can absolutely bring visibility to esports. They help attract attention, create conversation, and introduce newer audiences to the space. But long-term engagement usually comes down to one thing: authenticity.”
Iyer presents a similar, if partial, case closer to home. He has previously taken part in gaming events, including a COD Mobile tournament alongside professional gamers, which gives his association with the F1 Sim Racing India Open some grounding beyond pure celebrity appeal.
Shiva Nandy, Founder and CEO of Skyesports, takes a more measured view. He doesn’t believe traditional sports stars are becoming the new faces of esports in India. “Esports have a loyal and dedicated fanbase. Many esports’ players are content creators as well, having built a huge following on Instagram and YouTube, making them akin to some sports stars. Therefore, the faces of Indian esports will always remain gamers.”
But Nandy does see a contextual role for athletes. “For a large esports’ tournament, bringing a sports star makes sense as it adds credibility. Esports is no longer a niche. It’s become mainstream, especially after being included as a medal event in the Asian Games. Showing that connection between traditional sports and esports can absolutely be a goal.”
The Authenticity Risk
Not everyone in the gaming community welcomes the trend unconditionally. A recurring concern within the ecosystem is that celebrity involvement driven purely by marketing logic, rather than genuine cultural affinity, can alienate the very audience it aims to attract.
Animesh Agarwal, Co-Founder of S8UL and 8Bit Creatives, shares “Today’s audiences are very smart. They can immediately tell whether someone is participating because they genuinely enjoy gaming or because it is simply a commercial obligation.” Agarwal notes that the strongest athlete-led collaborations share something with the best creator partnerships as they emerge from genuine overlapping interests, not transactional deals. He points to S8UL’s own campaigns with T20 World Cup players and IPL franchises as examples of crossovers that resonated because they felt natural to both communities.
Raut adds, “The esports audience is extremely community-driven and deeply invested in the games, players, and competitive ecosystem itself. When campaigns rely too much on personalities with no real connection to gaming, audiences can quickly feel disconnected from it.” Celebrities can open the door, but they shouldn’t own the room.
For Bimal Dhorda, a veteran tournament player and a Musician, the stakes are most visible at the grassroots level. He shares, “Visibility may bring people in, but strong ecosystems are what make them stay.” He argues that investment in players, tournaments, infrastructure, and sustainable career pathways matters more in the long run than any single brand collaboration.
Soham Samir Saraf, a college tournament player, adds “The most effective collaborations are those where mainstream athletes demonstrate genuine belief in esports as legitimate competitive platforms. When structured properly with real pathways and opportunities, these partnerships effectively normalise esports.”
Brands, Gateways, and the Long Game
Ameet Gadhoke, Managing Director of Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited, is candid about what Iyer’s association was designed to do. He mentions, “Bringing in Shreyas as a brand ambassador was not about solving just one gap—it was about accelerating an emerging sporting platform that is still in its formative stage here. Awareness, credibility, and audience reach are the obvious levers, but we’re considering these to be ecosystem builders, not the end goal.” Gadhoke also points to the numbers underpinning the opportunity: India has a huge sports audience, and Formula 1 already has a 78.8 million-strong fanbase in the country. “The opportunity lies in converting this latent interest into active adoption,” he says.
Raut notes that vehicle launches by Hyundai Motor India and TVS Motor Company at the BGMI Masters Series reflect how esports is increasingly being treated as a mainstream cultural platform. Nandy further adds, “Many brands have adopted a multi-campaign strategy like an esports tournament tie-up, a self-created grassroots event, and a gaming creator partnership, for maximum penetration and brand recall.”
The Bigger Picture
The most interesting long-term question is not whether athletes are entering esports, but what role they will eventually occupy. Nandy sees a trajectory that mirrors how successful athletes have diversified in other sports, as investors, team owners, mentors, and ecosystem builders.
Basu believes the credibility transfer runs both ways. “When someone like Shreyas Iyer steps into esports, it elevates the entire industry. He’s a household name, and the fact that he’s a gamer himself makes it a perfect fit.”
For an industry that has spent years asking to be taken seriously, the mainstream attention is genuinely welcome. A cricketer on a banner, a car unveiled at a gaming tournament, a Formula 1-backed competition—these are not nothing. Whether they translate into sustained investment, better infrastructure, and real career pathways for players is something the ecosystem is still waiting to find out.
