Sachin Tendulkar's Hitwicket Stake in Metasports: Size Undisclosed, Explained

Sachin Tendulkar has acquired a significant minority stake in Metasports Interactive, the company behind the mobile cricket game Hitwicket, and will also serve as its brand ambassador, The Economic Times reported on 3 November 2026. Co-founder and chief executive Kashyap Reddy gave ET that account. The size of the stake and the valuation were not disclosed. Moneycontrol says the Hyderabad studio went to him for a collaboration about six months ago, and the talks ended with him taking a stake.

The 60-second version

• Deal: Significant minority stake in Hitwicket maker Metasports Interactive, plus a brand-ambassador role (The Economic Times, Javed Farooqui, updated 3 November 2026, 11:56 am IST). Cheque size and valuation: not disclosed, under confidentiality agreements.
• In the game: His likeness as a playable character, and plans to use his insights to explain strategy (ET). A mentor or strategist role, and career-era versions, are ideas Moneycontrol said the studio is exploring.
• Scale the company cites: 20 million downloads in more than 120 countries; target 100 million downloads in three years; revenue doubled in the past six months; 51 minutes of play a day on average (ET; Reddy on the time figure).
• Money: More than 97 percent of revenue from in-app purchases; more than half of revenue from outside India (ET). Subscriptions and selective opt-in ads are plans ET attributed to the company.
• Separate from the stake: 20 million dollars of user-acquisition funding from London-based Metica in April 2026 (ET). YourStory called that facility non-dilutive.
• Older backers: Prime Venture Partners, Horizon Ventures, Harsha Bhogle and The Chennai Angels (ET).

The stake, and what was not disclosed

ET's wording is a significant minority stake. The paper published no percentage. ET said the financial details, including the valuation, have not been disclosed because of financial confidentiality agreements. YourStory (3 November 2026) said the financial terms and valuation remain undisclosed. Indian Startup News (Vivek Vishwakarma, 3 November 2026) said Metasports did not disclose the size of the investment. None of those reports gives a rupee figure, a dollar figure, or a percentage for this stake.

Moneycontrol (Vikas SN, 3 November 2026, 11:59 IST) reported the path into the deal. About six months ago, Hyderabad-based Metasports Interactive approached Tendulkar about a collaboration around Hitwicket. He decided to pick up a stake. Reddy told Moneycontrol that Tendulkar will help shape development, using his playing career to make the game more realistic.

The company was founded by Kashyap Reddy and Keerti Singh. Moneycontrol and Indian Startup News both name the pair. Indian Startup News identifies Reddy as CEO. ET identifies him as co-founder and CEO. Moneycontrol also said the startup was previously known as Hitwicket.

This is a different gaming investment from Tendulkar's earlier one. Moneycontrol noted that he was associated with JetSynthesys on the Sachin Saga franchise, including Sachin Saga Cricket Champions, released in 2017, and that he invested 2 million dollars in the Pune-based firm in 2021.

What Tendulkar says, and what the studio plans to do with him

ET quoted Tendulkar: "Hitwicket stood out to me for how it brings the strategic thinking behind cricket into the game."

Indian Startup News carried a longer version of that comment, plus a second line. Tendulkar said cricket has always involved reading the bowler, assessing the field and deciding the right approach for every ball, and that Hitwicket captures that decision-making, going beyond reflexes to recreate how a cricketer thinks in the middle. He added: "I enjoyed playing the game, believe in what the team is building, and that makes the association feel natural." YourStory also attributed the "reading the bowler" line to him.

On product, ET reported two concrete intentions. Tendulkar's likeness will be incorporated as a playable character. The company plans to use his cricketing insights to explain strategies to players inside the game. Indian Startup News said the company will also feature him across in-game experiences, content and brand activations.

Moneycontrol's interview with Reddy goes further, and it is still in the language of work they want to do. Reddy said some users go deep into the technicalities of cricket, and that capturing "the mind of a champion" inside the game would improve the experience. His example: which side of the field has grass growing in a particular direction, and how that affects the friction of the ball.

Reddy also told Moneycontrol the studio is drawing inspiration from Japanese role-playing games to see how play can stay engaging even with similar characters. That includes potentially featuring Tendulkar as a team mentor or strategist, alongside a playable character. On career span, Reddy said Tendulkar's career ran for more than 24 years, with an early "smasher" period and a later, different approach, and that the studio is thinking of bringing that evolution into the game. Those lines are Reddy's plans as told to Moneycontrol.

How Hitwicket plays, and the scale the company cites

ET described Hitwicket, launched in 2020, as a mobile-first multiplayer cricket game focused on strategic decision-making. Players manage a virtual cricket team as owner, coach and captain. The tactical choices ET listed include planning a chase, deciding when to attack or defend, and choosing which bowlers to target.

Reddy told Moneycontrol: "With Hitwicket, we built everything from the ground up, including multiplayer gameplay and matchmaking." He also said: "Mobile sports games tend to be heavily simulation-driven, and the multiplayer experience has not been fully cracked."

The operating numbers below are what the company told reporters, not an independent audit:

• 20 million downloads across more than 120 countries (ET).
• A target of 100 million downloads over the next three years (ET).
• Revenue doubled over the past six months (ET, citing the company).
• Players spend an average of 51 minutes a day (Reddy, to ET).
• More than half of revenue comes from outside India, with markets including the UK, Australia, the US and Canada (ET).

Purchases, Metica, and earlier backers

ET said more than 97 percent of Hitwicket's revenue comes from in-app purchases. The same report said the company plans to introduce subscriptions for its core users and is selectively expanding opt-in advertising. Treat both as stated plans.

A separate pool of capital predates this stake. ET said Metasports raised 20 million dollars in user-acquisition funding from London-based Metica in April 2026. YourStory's 3 November piece said that development is separate from Tendulkar's investment, and that the Metica facility was non-dilutive: marketing and international expansion money that did not involve giving up equity. Indian Startup News described user-acquisition funding the same way, and said Metica also deployed its own platform to optimise in-game revenue.

ET said the company is exploring generative AI for real-time commentary and gameplay, and to personalise the experience for different categories of users. "Exploring" is the word ET used. The report did not describe a shipped AI commentator.

Earlier equity backers, as ET listed them: Prime Venture Partners, Horizon Ventures, commentator Harsha Bhogle and The Chennai Angels. Indian Startup News added dates and amounts for the pre-Metica equity: 8 million dollars from Prime Venture Partners and Singapore-based Horizon Ventures before the Metica deal. Prime's first cheque, Indian Startup News said, was 3 million dollars in November 2022, described as a seed round, alongside the launch of Hitwicket Superstars. The same report said Bhogle came in as a strategic investor in April 2024 and also contributes cricket content to the game.

Other cricket games Moneycontrol named

Moneycontrol, in the same story, listed other prominent local mobile cricket titles: Dream Sports' Dream Cricket, Krafton-owned Nautilus Mobile's Real Cricket, and Nazara Technologies-owned Nextwave Multimedia's World Cricket Championship. It also said Bengaluru-based LightFury Games recently released its cricket title, eCricket, in closed beta.

What to watch next

1. Any disclosure of the stake size or valuation. Until the company or Tendulkar publishes terms, the only on-record position is that they are confidential.
2. When the playable likeness actually appears, and whether the mentor role and the career-era versions Reddy described to Moneycontrol ship.
3. Whether strategic input changes matches in the specific ways Reddy described to Moneycontrol, such as grass direction and friction.
4. The path from 20 million downloads toward 100 million in three years, and whether the revenue doubling of the past six months holds.
5. Subscriptions and opt-in ads, if they launch, and how they sit next to a business ET said still takes more than 97 percent of revenue from in-app purchases.
6. Generative AI commentary and personalisation, which ET said is being explored.

Tendulkar is now a shareholder and Hitwicket's brand ambassador, with a plan to put his likeness in the game. The stake size and the valuation remain undisclosed.

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This explainer is based on The Economic Times (Javed Farooqui, ET Bureau, updated 3 November 2026, 11:56 am IST); Moneycontrol (Vikas SN, 3 November 2026, 11:59 IST); YourStory (3 November 2026); and Indian Startup News (Vivek Vishwakarma, 3 November 2026, 4:20 pm IST). The size of Tendulkar's stake and Metasports' valuation were not disclosed in that coverage. Download, revenue, play time and funding figures are company statements, or earlier funding details, as cited above.