Eden Gardens will witness a battle which will go beyond cricket
From Anand Vishnu
Bangalore, April 7 2015:  The coming  Saturday, will witness a battle between two top-class IPL teams. One led by a leading  drinks brand and the other  by one of the country’s biggest movie stars.
 It will also mark an encounter between two rival Chinese mobile phone manufacturers. How?
With Kolkata Knight Riders announcing Gionee as their principal sponsor for three years and Royal Challengers Bangalore extending their contract with Huawei , the jerseys of the two competing teams will have the Gionee and Huawei logos prominently displayed.
Picture this - The massive Eden Gardens in Kolkata split into two halves – fans in Violet, and fans in red and gold... one half of the stadium sporting Gionee, and the other half sporting Huawei  logo.
While Gionee replaces Nokia, KKR's  principal sponsor for seven years, Huawei goes for a three year contract after trying out  RCB last year.
Of course, one can endlessly debate on the timing of the partnership announcements. While the Gionee-KKR association was formally announced on the April 3, at a glitzy event in Hyderabad, the  extension of the Huawei-RCB contract was announced a couple of days later in Mumbai. Did Huawei play the ‘wait and watch’ game or did Gionee pre-empt Huawei’s strategy?
The Chinese are going to invade Eden Gardens (and the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the days to come), and fight it out. Taking a cue from Ravi Shastri’s proprietary line, we would love to say, “Technology is the ultimate winner.” Both Gionee and Huawei have started taking the India market seriously. This means better choice for Indian smart phone users, more personalization, better quality products at competitive prices. May the best 'player' win.