Anil Jayaraj quits Star Sports; Anoop Govindan to take over

Anil Jayaraj, executive vice president, Star Sports has put in his papers after serving the company for over six years, confirmed an executive at the company aware of the development on the condition of anonymity.

Jayaraj, who joined Star India in March 2015, is currently serving his notice period and will be with the company till September. His next move is still unknown.

Anoop Govindan, senior vice president and national advertising sales head at Star Sports is expected to take over the position.

An email sent to Star Sports on the development remained unanswered.

It is to be noted that his departure comes at a time when the next six months are packed in terms of key back-to-back cricket tournaments being scheduled starting with the remaining matches of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 to be played in UAE during September-October. It will be followed by T20 World Cup to be held in November. This would be the first global cricket tournament that the International Cricket Council (ICC) would organise post the covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

Jayaraj joined Star India as head of ad sales for Star Sports from Pidilite Industries where he was serving as the chief marketing officer. Under him, Star Sports managed to clock over ₹3, 000 crore worth of revenue with Indian Premier League (IPL) alone drawing over ₹2, 000 crore worth of business. He has also helped build business around key properties across various sports such as kabaddi, football, tennis, and badminton among others.

In over two decades-long career, Jayaraj has gained marketing, sales and business development experience in B2C as well as B2B businesses in India and abroad. He started his career as marketing manager at British oil company Castrol and spent four years working across various roles. He then joined BP Marine & Energy Lubricants and served as marketing director before joining Pidilite Industries. His role at Star Sports was his first-ever stint in the sports broadcasting industry. Live Mint