Cricket

Adidas began manufacturing cricket footwear in the mid 1970s, with their initial target market being Australia. Their shoes were a radical departure from traditional leather cricket boots which had remained basically unchanged for decades, being lighter and more flexible but also offering less toe protection, so that it became not uncommon to see batsmen who had been struck by the ball on the foot hopping around in pain. Having continued to manufacture cricket footwear for many years, in 2006 the company finally entered the field of bat manufacture in 2008 and currently their bat range includes the Pellara, Incurza, Libro and M-Blaster models.
In the 1990s, Adidas signed the superstar Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and made shoes for him.Tendulkar still wears Adidas shoes while playing matches. Since 2008, Adidas has sponsored the cricket bat used by Tendulkar. It created a new bat, 'Adidas MasterBlaster Elite', personalized for him.
In 2008, Adidas made a concerted move into English cricket market by sponsoring English batting star Kevin Pietersen after the cancellation of his lifetime deal with Woodworm, when they ran into financial difficulties The following year they signed up fellow England player Ian Bell, Pakistan opening batsman Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja.

Currently the sponsored cricketers include Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo.
Adidas currently manufactures kit for the England cricket team. Adidas signed with Cricket South Africa in 2011 and the kit worn by South African Cricket Team during and after the Cricket World Cup 2011 will be manufactured by the German giantThe Australia cricket team were previously sponsored by Adidas until late 2011.
In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adidas are the official apparel sponsor for the team Mumbai Indians