Kohler-Cadmore, who will be rubbing shoulders with English white-ball captain Jos Butler in IPL 2024, will also share the dressing room with established international cricketers namely Ravi Ashwin, Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Ashwin, in particular, is quite excited for the 29-year old player, who was sold for his base price of INR 40 lakh in what will be his maiden season of the biggest T20 league across the globe. Ashwin, who has been representing the franchise since 2022, shared an interesting connection with Mick Kohler-Cadmore, Tom’s father, on his YouTube channel.

Tom, who plies his trade for Somerset at the moment, had made his county debut at Worcestershire a decade ago. Co-incidentally, Ashwin’s county debut had also happened at Worcestershire in 2017. In the video, Ashwin recalled how Kohler-Cadmore’s father helped him out in every single activity especially during his first 10 days.

“Mick Cadmore, Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s father, was my first-ever county stint dressing room attendant and helped me in the time I spent at county cricket in England. When I went to England to play county cricket, the first 10 days were very difficult to start with, as we needed to do everything for ourselves. Right from the laundry to food, his father helped me out in everything there for the first 10 days, and I am very grateful for him. In fact, when I went there, he had just moved to Yorkshire from Worcestershire. He’s a man of gold. An amazing human being. I’m so happy I’ll get to play with his son now,” Ashwin said.

RR, of late, have been quite keen on employing English cricketers. In the recent past, gun players in Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Tom Curran, Liam Livingstone, Joe Root, etc. have all played for the Royals. This may also be indicative, in a way, of the presence of owners Manoj Badale, a British-Indian, and Lachlan Murdoch, an Australian-British-American businessmen.

Ever since Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty were ousted as their owners, Badale and Lachlan took over the franchise. Given their British roots, they might just have a closer view of domestic cricket in the country, enabling them to have their best picks.

Ravi Ashwin County Career Details

In his debut season for Worcestershire, Ashwin picked up three wickets against Gloucestershire. Aged 30 then, Ashwin had given county cricket a try to fulfill one of his dreams. He was instrumental in promoting the club to Division One by taking 20 wickets and averaging 42 with the bat in hand.

The following year, he was all set to go back to the same county after heaps of negotiations between the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Matt Rawnsley, the then CEO of Worcestershire. However, he had to withdraw at the last moment due to a groin injury.

For the second half of County Championship 2019, Ashwin was signed by Nottinghamshire and he fared decently once again. He took 34 wickets and scored 339 runs at an average of 37.66. Slated to play for Yorkshire in 2020, the deal was called-off mutually amid the novel COVID-19 pandemic.

The post Ravi Ashwin Reveals Special Connection With Rajasthan Royals Inductee Tom Kohler-Cadmore And His Father appeared first on The SportsRush.

With 333 players put up for an auction that had only 77 available slots, there was always going to be a bidding rush. However, these players still stand a chance of being picked by any of the 10 franchises during the accelerated rounds of an auction. As a matter of fact, there is enough historic evidence of a player alluring a buyer during the fag end of a day despite remaining unsold twice on the same day.

While Rossouw’s last IPL stint had come in the form of representing Delhi nine times last season, Nair didn’t play a single match after three forgettable outings for Rajasthan Royals during IPL 2022.

Smith, on the other hand, hasn’t participated in the biggest T20 competition in the world since his IPL 2021 stint with the Capitals. Much like former Karnataka teammate in Nair, even Pandey disappointed one and all by scoring at a strike rate of 109.59 across 10 matches for DC last season.

Unsold Players In IPL 2024 Auction [UPDATED]

Karun Nair.

Steve Smith.

Phil Salt.

Josh Inglis.

Kusal Mendis.

Jos Hazlewood.

Waqar Salamkheli.

Adil Rashid.

Akeal Hosein.

Ish Sodhi.

Tabraiz Shamsi.

Rohan Kunnumal.

Saurav Chauhan.

Priyansh Arya.

Manan Vohra.

Sarfaraz Khan.

Raj Angad Bawa.

Vivrant Sharma.

Atit Sheth.

Hrithik Shokeen.

Urvil Petl.

Vishnu Solanki.

Kuldip Yadav.

Ishan Porel.

Shiva Singh.

Murugan Ashwin.

Pulkit Narang.

Finn Allen.

Colin Munro.

Rassie Van Der Dussen.

Qais Ahamad.

Michael Bracewell.

James Neesham.

Keemo Paul.

Odean Smith.

Dushmanta Chameera.

Ben Dwarshuis.

Matt Henry.

Kyle Jamieson.

Tymal Mills.

Adam Milne.

Sandeep Warrier.

Luke Wood.

Rithik Easwaran.

Himmat Singh.

Sumeet Verma.

Harsh Dubey.

Tanush Kotian.

Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

Pradosh Paul.

Rohit Rayudu.

G Ajitesh.

Gaurav Choudhary.

Bipin Saurabh.

K.M. Asif.

Mohammed Kaif.

Abhilash Shetty.

Gurjapneet Singh.

Prithvi Raj Yarra.

Shubham Agrawal.

Amandeep Khare.

K.L. Srijith.

The post Unsold Players In IPL 2024: What Happens To Them In Auction? appeared first on The SportsRush.

Overseas cricketers, particularly fast bowlers, are always in high demand and the same was validated yet again during IPL 2024 auction in Dubai today. Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had never bought the most expensive player of an auction previously, acquired Cummins’ services for a record price of INR 20.50 crore. However, Kolkata Knight Riders splurged INR 24.75 crore to put Starc in a league of his own.

Earlier, Cummins had broken English all-rounder Sam Curran‘s record, who was bought by Punjab Kings for INR 18.50 crore during the last auction. As soon as Cummins’ name was announced, most successful franchises in Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians initiated an intense bidding war only to be joined by Royal Challengers Bangalore within no time.

Comparatively late to join, SRH were part of a tug of war battling it hard against RCB till the end. Since the opposition was short on budget, Hyderabad were able to bid successfully for an international captain who has won a couple of world titles in the last six months.

PAT

Welcome, Cummins! #HereWeGOrange pic.twitter.com/qSLh5nDbLM

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) December 19, 2023

Interestingly, it isn’t for the first time when Cummins has received such an opulent bid in an IPL auction. Knight Riders had bought him for INR 15.50 crore during IPL 2020 auction. However, considering monumental expectations, it will be interesting to see whether he will be able to justify an unprecedented price tag or not.

Starc, on the other hand, enticed yet another Delhi-Mumbai combat before former Indian teammates Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra locked horns to get the left-arm speedster. Although he didn’t play that year, Starc was last bought in an IPL auction by the same franchise.

New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell became the second most expensive player in IPL 2024 auction after Chennai Super Kings bought him for as many as INR 14 crore. Indian pacer Harshal Patel (INR 11.75 crore), West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph (INR 11.5 crore) and Australian pacer Spencer Johnson (INR 10 crore) were also able to surpass the 10 crore-mark.

Most Expensive Player In IPL 2024 Auction [UPDATED]

Mitchell Starc (Kolkata Knight Riders) – INR 24.75 crore

Pat Cummins (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – INR 20.50 crore

Daryl Mitchell (Chennai Super Kings) – INR 14 crore

Harshal Patel (Punjab Kings) – INR 11.75 crore

Alzarri Joseph (Royal Challengers Bangalore) – INR 11.5 crore

Spencer Johnson (Gujarat Titans) – INR 10 crore

Sameer Rizvi (Chennai Super Kings) – INR 8.40 crore

Rilee Rossouw (Punjab Kings) – INR 8 crore

Rovman Powell (Rajasthan Royals) – INR 7.40 crore

Shahrukh Khan (Gujarat Titans) – INR 7.40 crore

The post Most Expensive Player In IPL 2024 Auction [FULL LIST] appeared first on The SportsRush.

England batter Harry Brook, who scored 31* (7) to seal a 223-run chase against a Powell-led West Indies in an emphatic fashion most recently, was the second player to be find a buyer. One of the most expensive players during IPL 2023 auction, Brook has undergone a substantial salary cut after Delhi Capitals bought him for just INR 4 crore on Tuesday.

Australia batter Travis Head, who has been nothing short of a nemesis for the Indian cricket team this year, will be making an IPL comeback after seven years. Having represented Royal Challengers Bangalore 11 times across a couple of seasons, Head will move to Sunrisers Hyderabad after they pinned down Chennai Super Kings to buy him for INR 6.8 crore.

While the likes of Karun Nair, Steven Smith and Manish Pandey, all of whom have represented Delhi previously, remained unsold, SRH successfully managed another coup on the back of buying Sri Lanka all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga for his base price of INR 1.5 crore.

IPL 2024 All Teams Squads After Auction In Dubai [UPDATED]

Chennai Super Kings

MS Dhoni (c), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Chowdhary, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Rachin Ravindra (INR 1.8 crore), Shardul Thakur (INR 4 crore), Daryl Mitchell (INR 14 crore), Sameer Rizvi (INR 8.4 crore), Musrafizur Rahman (INR 2 crore), Avanish Rao Aravelly (INR 20 lakh).

Delhi Capitals

Rishabh Pant, David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Pravin Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Harry Brook (INR 4 crore), Tristan Stubbs (INR 50 lakh), Ricky Bhui (INR 20 lakh), Kumar Kushagra (INR 7.2 crore), Rasikh Dar (INR 20 lakh), Jhye Richardson (INR 5 crore), Sumit Kumar (INR 1 crore), Shai Hope (INR 75 lakh), Swastik Chhikara (INR 20 lakh).

Gujarat Titans

David Miller, Shubman Gill (c), Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai (INR 50 lakh), Umesh Yadav (INR 5.8 crore), Shahrukh Khan (INR 7.4 crore), Sushant Mishra (INR 2.2 crore), Kartik Tyagi (INR 60 lakh), Manav Suthar (INR 20 lakh), Spencer Johnson (INR 10 crore), Robin Minz (INR 3.6 crore).

Kolkata Knight Riders

Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (c), Jason Roy, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Suyash Sharma, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, KS Bharat (INR 50 lakh), Chetan Sakariya (INR 50 lakh), Mitchell Starc (INR 24.75 crore), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (INR 20 lakh), Ramandeep Singh (INR 20 lakh), Sherfane Rutherford (INR 1.5 crore), Manish Pandey (INR 50 lakh), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (INR 2 crore), Gus Atkinson (INR 1 crore), Sakib Hussain (INR 20 lakh).

Lucknow Super Giants

KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Mavi (INR 6.4 crore), David Willey (INR 2 crore), Arshin Kulkarni (INR 20 lakh), M. Siddharth (INR 2.4 crore), Ashton Turner (INR 1 crore), Arshad Khan (INR 20 lakh).

Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Hardik Pandya (c), Romario Shepherd, Gerald Coetzee (INR 5 crore), Dilshan Madushanka (INR 4.6 crore), Shreyas Gopal (INR 20 lakh), Nuwan Thushara (INR 4.8 crore), Anshul Kamboj (INR 20 lakh), Naman Dhir (INR 20 lakh), Mohammad Nabi (INR 1.5 crore), Shivalik Sharma (INR 20 lakh).

Punjab Kings

Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jitesh Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Shivam Singh, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Vidwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Bhatia, Harshal Patel (INR 11.75 crore), Chris Woakes (INR 4.2 crore), Ashutosh Sharma (INR 20 lakh), Vishwanath Pratap Singh (INR 20 lakh), Shashank Singh (INR 20 lakh), Tanay Thyagarajan (INR 20 lakh), Prince Choudhary (INR 20 lakh), Rileee Rossouw (INR 8 crore).

Rajasthan Royals

Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell (INR 7.4 crore), Shubham Dubey (INR 5.8 crore), Yash Dayal (INR 5 crore), Abid Mushtaq (INR 20 lakh), Nandre Burger (INR 50 lakh), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (INR 40 lakh).

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Cameron Green, Mayank Dagar, Alzarri Joseph (INR 11.5 crore), Tom Cohler-Cadmore (INR 40 lakh), Tom Curran (INR 1.5 crore), Lockie Ferguson (INR 2 crore), Swapnil Singh (INR 20 lakh), Saurav Chauhan (INR 20 lakh).

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram (c), Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Mayank Markande, Shahbaz Ahmed, Travis Head (INR 6.8 crore), Wanindu Hasaranga (INR 1.5 crore), Pat Cummins (INR 20.50 crore), Jaydev Unadkat (INR 1.6 crore), Akash Singh (INR 20 lakh), Jhathavedh Subramanyan (INR 20 lakh).

The post IPL 2024 All Teams Squads After Auction In Dubai appeared first on The SportsRush.

The Coca-Cola Arena is considerably a new venue, which was inaugurated in June 2019. A multi-purpose arena, it is meant to host music concerts, luxurious family ceremonies, and all sorts of other entertainment activities besides an auction. Owing to its name, which only got added after a 10-year contract with the popular beverage giant, the stadium and its 4,600 LED lights are often lit up in red.

With a capacity of 17,000, Coca-Cola Arena is Dubai’s first and biggest indoor venue. It is situated in the center of City Walk, an urban area in Dubai, and is bound to attract a lot of attention. As a year-round all-entertainment venue, it only adds to Dubai’s already renowned name as a popular tourist destination. Canadian comedian Russell Peters and pop band Maroon 5 have already performed here.

“Coca-Cola Arena will play an important role in promoting Dubai’s vision of putting the city on the world map of live music, sports, and entertainment,” Murat Ozgel, GM of Coca-Cola Middle East, had told Khaleej Times.

Why Is Dubai An IPL Auction Venue In 2024?

Eight Indian cities had hosted the previous 16 IPL auctions. However, a landmark decision has been made keeping in mind the wedding season in the country.

“Due to the wedding season, hotel availability can be an issue. This is why we decided to host it in Dubai”, said an IPL official, as quoted by Deccan Herald.

Change in IPL Auction Venue Over The Years

The location for IPL auctions has changed multiple times over the years, all of which were within major Indian cities until last year. While it started with the Maximum city, Bengaluru has been the top pick, hosting the auctions as many as eight times across 16 years. The luxurious Hotel ITC Gardenia served as the location in the Silicon Valley of India.

The post Coca Cola Arena: Why Is Dubai An IPL Auction Venue In 2024? appeared first on The SportsRush.

Having conducted the bidding process for 11 seasons between 2008-2018, Madley is an iconic name, face and voice of IPL auctions. However, he has harbored only love and showered praises on Hugh Edmeades, his successor, and Mallika Sagar, slated to be the first female auctioneer in IPL history.

Madley took to popular social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to inform Sagar how honorable it was to be the one to conduct such an auction in the inaugural season. Fans, in response, showered nothing but love on him.

Good luck Mallika Sagar as you prepare for the #IPL2024Auction .
It is the ultimate honour to be invited to conduct the world’s highest profile auction and I wish you well.
I will always treasure the memories #IPLAuction #IPL2024 pic.twitter.com/6IKznkKlXD

— Richard Madley (@iplauctioneer) December 18, 2023

The common underlying message among all his fans was “Missing you”. It’s hard to shake off that image of being associated with a name and brand as prestigious as the cash-rich IPL.

The 67-year-old, who seemed to have all the time in the world for his fans, responded to almost everyone with equal love, kindness and humility. Unlike some celebrities, none of his messages seemed out of order or anything remotely snarky or salty.

One fan in particular, who goes by the name “Kohlian”, poured his heart out on how much he misses Madley’s iconic manner of saying “Sold” with the sound of the gavel to follow. It’s been six years, including 2024, since he last auctioned but remembering his style still gives this fan “goosebumps”.

Well that is a very nice thing to say and a happy fe compliment . I am only just learning how influential I might have been to a few

— Richard Madley (@iplauctioneer) December 18, 2023

Why Does Richard Madley Not Conduct IPL Auctions Now?

In search of a “young and Indian” auctioneer in a bid to change the auction dynamics, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) opted to move on from Richard Madley in 2018. However, the richest cricket board zeroing in on another senior English auctioneer in Edmeades had left Madley “down and deflated” especially after being informed of the development via an email according to India Today.

Madley, however, doesn’t carry grudges or heavy heart. As is evident from his online presence, he often reminisces about his time spent during these auctions and all the happy memories he collected on the back of getting along well with the owners.

As per his pinned tweet, his career highlight was selling the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni to Chennai Super Kings for $1.5 million in the inaugural auction of what has turned out to be the biggest T20 tournament in the world. CSK captain till date, Dhoni had even signed an autograph for Madley’s son, Harry.

Selling #Dhoni in the first #IPL auction was a career highlight & meeting him was very special.
He signed this for my son @harrymadley6
Good luck today #CSK #WhistlePodu #Yellove pic.twitter.com/8P8vL9VooK

— Richard Madley (@iplauctioneer) May 28, 2023

Post IPL snub, Madley now does the same, i.e., works in the capacity of an auctioneer in SA20. Occasionally, he also provides expert opinion on BBC game show Bargain Hunt. However, an 11-year long IPL association will always remain the highlight of a decorated career as expressed by him in one of his tweets.

The post “Can’t Imagine IPL Auction Without You”: Fans Shower Love On Richard Madley, First IPL Auctioneer appeared first on The SportsRush.

Sagar earned this distinction after having successfully conducted Women’s Premier League auctions for its first two seasons. In both the years, she performed her job with panache at the Jio Convention Center, Mumbai. As for the richest cricket league in the world, i.e., the IPL, she will be calling the shots at the Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai.

“An independent professional auctioneer, Ms. Mallika Sagar, will conduct the auction and she will be the sole arbiter as to all aspects of the auction,” the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) informed franchises on the eve of the auction for the 17th season of the IPL.

The development will also see her become the first Indian to entirely conduct an IPL auction. In this regard, she will outdo a prominent name in Charu Sharma, who had covered up for Hugh Edmeades after he faced a medical emergency during IPL 2022 auction in Bengaluru.

Sagar is now all prepared to follow a rich legacy created by Richard Madley, Edmeades and Sharma. Madley, who has 35 years of experience conducting Christie’s auction for fine art, was associated with the IPL between 2008-2018. In 2019, he was replaced by Edmeades, whose stint continued till 2023 including a brief assistance from Sharma, as mentioned above.

Everything We Know About Mallika Sagar

Mallika Sagar, currently 48 years of age, is a resident of Mumbai with 25 years of experience in auctions. Although she will create an iconic first in the IPL, her experience in this regard adds tremendous value to her selection.

By profession, she has been collecting art and auctioning at Mumbai’s Pundole Art Galleries. At age 26, she earned a feather in her cap by conducting a Christie’s auction.

However, her foray into sports is fairly newer. In 2021, she conducted an auction for the Pro Kabaddi League, India’s second most popular sports league.

Sagar, with her Indian roots, majored in art history and completed her education at the Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia. She is currently divorced from her ex-husband Vir Advani, vice-chairman and MD, Blue Star. There is no information regarding her children in the public domain.

The post IPL Auctioneer Name 2024: Everything We Know About Mallika Sagar appeared first on The SportsRush.

Before cricket had even kick-started, Kolkata Knight Riders were known because of Shah Rukh Khan and his unmatched charm. Predicting the experience to be “crazy”, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer had once expressed his excitement about meeting him. Even though Mukesh Ambani is the richest individual among all the owners, Mumbai Indians are second in terms of the total net worth of the franchises.

Most of the franchises are owned by multiple owners with each one of them having a different stake in the team. That’s why operating an IPL team is not as easy as it seems. That said, the auction arena will look splendid yet again due to the presence of top personalities of the nation.

Interesting Facts About IPL Team Owners 2024

Gujarat Titans‘ owners, Luxemborg-based CVC Capital Partners, is the largest European private equity and investment advisory firm. After buying the franchise, the group had come into controversies as it was said that one of the biggest betting companies is associated with it which is not allowed under BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) norms.

Speaking of KKR, superstar Shah Rukh Khan shares a great bond with former captain and current mentor Gautam Gambhir. Ahead of IPL 2012 auction, Gambhir had asked the owners to spend their entire budget on spinner Sunil Narine, if need be. During 2014-15, Kolkata had posted a 55% growth in profit, which was the highest for any team and Khan’s brand value undoubtedly played a part in it.

Much like Khan, Punjab Kings‘ owner Preity Zinta has been with the club since the inception of the tournament. As much as she seems to be of a joyous nature, she had lost her cool and lashed out at head coach Sanjay Bangar following an IPL 2016 defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Interestingly, Bangar has been signed as head of cricket development for IPL 2024.

N. Srinivasan, the owner of Chennai Super Kings, has always been fond of former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In fact, he was the one who splurged a record sum on him during IPL 2008 auction. Srinivasan, who had completed his Masters’ Degree in Chemical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, was also the chairman of ICC (International Cricket Council) at a point in time.

Owned by United Spirits Limited, RCB is currently run by  Anand Kripalu in the absence of Vijay Mallya. Kripalu has worked with a lot of companies in his career and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 by IMA (Indian Marketing Awards).

Lucknow Super Giants‘ owner Sanjeev Goenka not only bought the most expensive team in IPL history but is also a business partner with former Bangalore captain Virat Kohli. This is Goenka’s second stint in the IPL as he used to own Rising Pune Supergiants between 2016-2017. He was awarded the “Banga Bibhusan 2015”, the highest civilian honour of the state by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Rajasthan Royals is owned by Manoj Badale and Lachlan Murdoch. One of the troubles faced by the franchise had come when former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor revealed that the owners slapped him. Badale, who has a 65% stake in the franchise, is a British businessman of Indian origin who has co-founded over 15 companies since 1998.

One of the richest businessmen in the world, MI owner Mukesh Ambani is a dropout of Stanford University. Moreover, he was not born in India but in a British Crown Colony named Aden (present-day Yemen). Currently, his son Aakash Ambani is taking care of the franchise.

Parth Jindal, CEO of JSW Sports, is a co-owner of Delhi Capitals. Jindal is not just associated with cricket but also owns Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League and Haryana Steelers in the Pro Kabaddi League. JSW Sports recently helped Indian athletes grab brand deals in vicinity of INR 5 crore in Asian Games 2023.

Kalanithi Maran is the owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Maran is the chairman and founder of Sun Group, a media company which comprises television channels, newspapers, weeklies, FM radio stations and DTH services. Kavya Maran, his daughter, is the CEO of the company and taking care of the franchise. Kavya’s net worth is said to be around Rs 409 crore.

The post IPL Team Owners 2024: Net Worth And Interesting Facts About Owners Of Indian Premier League Franchises appeared first on The SportsRush.

Albeit in a losing cause, Pietersen’s hard-hitting half-century powered India Capitals to a challenging 177/9 in 20 overs in Legends League Cricket 2023 Qualifier 2 against Manipal Tiger in Surat last night.

Pietersen, who hit two fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 207.40, registered the fifth-highest strike rate for an individual score in excess of 50 this season. As a result, the 43-year old player rightly considered it as an apt occasion to boast about his heroics on social media platform X whilst sarcastically hinting at a potential comeback in the cash-rich Indian Premier League.

“Last night. How do I enter the IPL auction?,” read Pietersen’s caption on X.

Last night.
How do I enter the @IPL auction? pic.twitter.com/MhGD6xjtDI

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) December 8, 2023

Second-highest run-scorer for his team, he is the sixth-highest overall on the back of accumulating 169 runs at an average and strike rate of 42.25 and 177.89 respectively across five innings.

Can Kevin Pietersen Enter the IPL 2024 Auction?

Technically? yes.

Practically? Probably no.

Even though the official list comprising 1,166 registered players for IPL 2024 auction had been released exactly a week ago, more players can still be added at the franchises’ behest. For the unversed, franchises have an option of suggesting additional names before the list is shortlisted to around half of the aforementioned number for a mini auction.

If truth be told, one doesn’t see Kevin Pietersen, well past his prime, returning to the biggest T20 league in the world. Been working in the IPL as a commentator for quite some years now, one expects Pietersen to continue entertaining fans in that capacity.

Having said that, it is to be noted that this isn’t the first time when Pietersen has touched upon playing in the IPL post excelling in the Legends League. During the inaugural season last year, Pietersen had scored 86 (38) before putting on display his wit to respond to a fan with regard to an IPL comeback.

In addition to rewinding the clock with the bat, 6’4″ tall Pietersen had also made optimum use of his acrobatic skills to grab a screamer of a catch in the same season.

Injuries Never Allowed Kevin Pietersen To Dominate The IPL

A rebel star during his playing days, Kevin Pietersen had ruffled feathers in English cricket post his INR 9.8 crore deal with Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2009. An unsuccessful six-match captaincy tenure had come to an end due to an Achilles injury. Another lacklustre season with the franchise was followed by the right-handed batter joining Deccan Chargers in 2011.

Ruled out of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and IPL 2011 due to a double hernia, Pietersen was subsequently transferred to Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals). Pietersen, who played IPL 2012 under Virender Sehwag, missed the following season due to a knee injury. Named captain of the franchise for IPL 2014, the move didn’t last more than a season.

Bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 2 crore in IPL 2015 auction, Pietersen eventually decided to prioritize Surrey over the IPL franchise in order to revitalize his international career. Upon failing to do so, KP decided to join SRH for the business end of the eighth season of the IPL. A calf injury, however, ended all possibilities of him playing a match for what would’ve been his third IPL franchise at the time.

In spite of not playing an international match for over two years, Pietersen successfully allured interest from Rising Pune Supergiants during IPL 2016 auction. That being said, another calf injury brought an end to both a four-match stint with RPS and a start-stop IPL career.

The post “How Do I Enter”: Kevin Pietersen Inquires Process To Register For IPL Auction 2024 appeared first on The SportsRush.

Taking to his official YouTube channel, the former Indian opener was touching upon Knight Riders’ auction strategy. For the unversed, Gambhir, who led KKR to both their IPL titles thus far, has joined the franchise as a mentor after serving Lucknow Super Giants in the same capacity for a couple of seasons.

“Gautam Gambhir kabhi kanjoosi nahin karte. Woh kehte hain aakhiri rupaiya tak kharch kar dete hain [Gautam Gambhir is not miserly. He believes in spending even the last penny remaining],” Chopra said.

Having retained 13 players for a total of INR 67.3 crore, Kolkata will enter IPL 2024 auction with a purse of INR 32.7 crore. While top IPL 2023 performers namely Rinku Singh, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Suyash Sharma are among their list of retained players, tried and tested campaigners such as Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson have no option but to allure a buyer again.

As Chopra mentioned in the above mentioned video, KKR would be eyeing A-list fast bowlers this time round. Since the Eden Gardens tends to assist spinners and the franchise already has a host of good ones, buying pacers will be of prime importance for them. Hence, don’t be surprised if Gambhir pulls off a coup akin to the one had done with regard to Morne Morkel during IPL 2016 auction.

How Gautam Gambhir Applied Similar Tactics For LSG In IPL 2022 Auction

Gambhir, who makes it a point to be present during IPL auctions (even during his playing days), hadn’t saved a single penny out of LSG’s INR 90 crore budget during IPL 2022 mega auction.

Having drafted KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi for a combined amount of INR 30.2 crore before the bidding process, Gambhir saved the remaining INR 59.8 crore to acquire the services of 18 players across a couple of days.

Gambhir, who bid aggressively for the players he wanted, spent INR 10 crore on Indian pacer Avesh Khan, INR 8.75 crore on former West Indian captain Jason Holder and INR 8.25 crore on Indian all-rounder Krunal Pandya. Gambhir, however, also successfully executed a daylight robbery in the form of spending only INR 90 lakh on Krishnappa Gowtham.

Gambhir, who had played for KKR between 2011-2017, wanted co-owner Shah Rukh Khan to spend entire budget on Narine, an unknown commodity at the time, during IPL 2012 auction. Taking into consideration how Narine has transformed a pivotal part of Knight Riders’ global family now, the owners would be hoping for Gambhir to make similar purchases in Dubai as well.

The post “Gautam Gambhir Kabhi Kanjoosi Nahin Karte”: Aakash Chopra Believes KKR Will Empty Their INR 32.7 Crore Purse In IPL 2024 Auction appeared first on The SportsRush.