MUMBAI (Reuters) - Advertising rates for this season's Indian Premier League cricket tournament have shot through the roof with a record 125 brands riding on the country's most lucrative sports competition, far exceeding expectations of Star India, its new broadcaster.

With the final in Mumbai on Sunday, Star is already predicting its ad revenue from the 60-game tournament, which runs for just over seven weeks, will total about 20 billion rupees ($300 million). That is up more than 50 percent from the 13 billion rupees that was pulled in by the previous owner of the TV rights, Sony Pictures Networks, in 2017.