KNIGHT RIDERS INVEST IN NEW AMERICAN T20 CRICKET LEAGUE
KOLKATA: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Knight Riders Group, on Tuesday, announced their foray into the untapped US cricket market investing in development of Major League Cricket with a multi-million dollar T20 tournament.
As per the deal, Knight Riders, will join hands with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) to become a stakeholder in development of the sport in the region.
“For several years now, we have been expanding the Knight Riders brand globally and closely watching the potential for T20 cricket in the USA,” Shah Rukh, the principal owner of the Knight Riders group, said in a media statement.
“We are convinced that Major League Cricket has all the pieces in place to execute on its plans and we look forward to making our partnership an enormous success in the coming years.”
The upcoming T20 tournament on the lines of hugely successful IPL will aim to capture the imagination of the significant South Asian diaspora, which includes Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis.
Incidentally, US citizen of Pakistani origin, pacer Ali Khan was part of this year’s CPL champion Trinbago Knight Riders and was also roped in as first US player in the IPL before injury cut short his journey.
Co-owners
Apart from Shah Rukh, actress Juhi Chawla and her businessman husband Jay Mehta, who are also the co-owners in the Knight Riders Group.
“We are delighted to partner with the Knight Riders Group in this historic partnership,” Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan of American Cricket Enterprises and Major League Cricket said.
“By adding the Knight Riders Group to our family of worldclass and diverse investors, this investment into the future of Major League Cricket is a huge validation of our vision for the new league,” they further added.
Venky Mysore, the CEO of KKR and Red Chillies Entertainment said: “We have had a keen interest in the developments in the United States and our expansion into the U.S. is consistent with our long-term strategy.
“We look forward to the new challenge of building cricket in the world’s most sophisticated sports and media market and we believe that we can bring a huge amount of expertise to help make Major League Cricket realize the potential that it undoubtedly has,” Mysore said.
No warm-ups
Former India captain and chief selector, Dilip Vengsarkar, blamed the bowling woes on a lack of tour games. “We have come to Australia without any match practice. I always believe when you go to Australia, England or South Africa, the conditions are different. Even if you have gone there many times, it takes time to acclimatise. They are directly coming from playing the T20 format; it will take time,” he said. “We always make this mistake—they should have played two proper one-day games.
Of course, they did match simulation, but that is different from a proper game. I’m sure Indians will get progressively better. Though they lost, they put up an improved performance in the second match. I am positive they will keep improving as the tour progresses and put up a better performance in the Tests.”
The flat SCG wicket took the sting out of India’s bowling. On a batting wicket, the key is to come up with smart game plans for each player and executing it well. That’s been the difference between the sides.
Tactics, traps
In the first game, Australia took out India’s top-order with short stuff as Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli fell for the trap set by Josh Hazlewood. Hardik Pandya got 90, but in the second game the hosts were ready. With Pandya using the depth of the crease to target the fast bowlers, Pat Cummins frustrated him with off-cutters wide of the crease. Unable to break free, he was out for a 31-ball 28.
By contrast, Glenn Maxwell has been given a free run. IPL teams were successful in countering his open stance. In the ODIs though, he has proved hard
Halting Smith
Vengsarkar felt India’s best chance to stop Smith would be bowling discipline. “They will have to bowl on one side of the wicket, and the length is important. Because of T20s, there have been so many innovations that he has shots all around the wicket. If you just bowl on the off-stump, you will force him to take chances. That’s the only way. He will try to hit through the line, (but) the thing is there is