Various major sports are already deep in the NFT game, so it was only a matter of time before someone in the cricket world gave it a shot. That someone is the startup NFT platform Rario.

No surprises, either, that it’s an Indian company, given the country’s obsession with their generally outstanding national and domestic cricket teams. Cricket has a 2.5 billion-strong audience – most of which come from subcontinental regions.

India probably doesn’t quite beat New Zealand for the most satisfied national fan base right at the moment, though that’s not necessarily relevant to this story.

New Zealand’s Kane Williamson lifts the ICC World Test Championship Mace in June. Photo: Getty Images

But India has just as good a chance to become world champs in crypto as they do in cricket, if their country’s regulators play ball. The Indian government, however, has seemingly been about as decisive on crypto over the past couple of years as this…

BBL umpire Greg Davidson. Source: Twitter

It’s a country that could be ready explode with crypto and blockchain innovation, judging by what we’ve seen from the likes of Ethereum “layer 2” scaling solution Polygon (MATIC), which has a thriving crypto ecosystem in its own right.

 

Welcome back… to the NFTs

Which brings us back to Rario – built on Polygon and launching through the gaming and NFT (non-fungible token)-focused Polygon Studios.

Much like NBA Top Shot and football SoRare NFTs, as well as the RealFevr football-video moments project Stockhead looked at the other day, Rario has officially licensed affiliations to its sport. Although it seems like a bit of a work in progress to build that out more broadly.

According to a Polygon Studios blog, Rario has officially partnered with “several international cricket leagues and renowned internationally acclaimed cricket talent” that will aim to engage cricket fans.

However, from what Stockhead can tell from sifting through Rario’s most recent Discord channel comments, the league partnerships are currently just with the Caribbean Premier League and Lanka Premier League for now.

A press release reads: “Rario will continue to collaborate with cricket’s renowned administrative bodies, including Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA), among others to help preserve cricket history and bring it into the digital era.”

Some of the cricketing talent Rario is leveraging includes former India star Zaheer Khan, Bangladeshi gun Shakib Al Hasan and the sandpaper-eschewing, mint-chewing former Test captain of South Africa, Faf du Plessis.

In the same press statement, Polygon’s co-founder Sandeep Nailwal said: “We believe Rario is laying down the foundations for making digital collectibles the most prized asset for sports fans in India and across the world. Polygon Studios is thrilled to be on this pioneering journey with the Rario team.”

If Rario’s content is anything like the imagery it’s gone with below, then it’ll end up pulling in about as many fans as a mid-season Sheffield Shield match. During lockdown.

But… if it ends up including moments such as Shane Warne’s “Ball of the Century” or Sachin Tendulkar’s 30th Test ton, then it could well be onto something.

 

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