In 2007, when BCCI was planning IPL, do you know broadcasters were hardly showing interest.
ESPN-Star, lead broadcaster then, believed nobody would take interest in a city vs city league. It wouldn't work.
That's when Shahrukh Khan had an idea.
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As is the case with most things SRK does, this idea too was ahead of its time.
"Share the IPL broadcast feed with all television channels in the country for free", he said. The league could do a revenue-share on all advertising that came its way.
That was the proposition.
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Feb 13 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
#IPL #ViratKohli
It's funny how people think 21 cr is too much for Virat Kohli if he's not going to captain #RCB.
It's laughable actually.
Allow me to share some facts here. What if I tell you -- RCB are second in the list of franchises with the highest sponsorship numbers.
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Mumbai Indians, winners of five #IPL titles, rank first.
Their current sponsorship numbers are between Rs 145 and 150 cr.
They were the first to crack the 100 cr barrier and they're again the first in the race to 150 cr.
But then, we're talking about a star-studded line-up.
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Feb 11 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
🧵
#IPL
For the first time in 18 years, Indian Premier League (IPL) has observed a majority stake sale in its franchise business.
Economic Times reported Tuesday morning about Ahmedabad-based Torrent Group (pharma & power giants) buying 66% stake in the CVC-owned property.
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The 100% value of the deal stands at Rs 7,500 crore of which Torrent Group has paid Rs 5,025 cr to own 66%.
CVC Capital had bought the Gujarat franchise by submitting a bid of Rs 5,625 cr when BCCI had last sold two teams (Ahmedabad & Lucknow) in 2021.
The numbers are crazy!
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Feb 4 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
🧵 CRICKET'S CHANGING LANDSCAPE
As The #Hundred attracts massive revenues through e-auctioning of franchises and England Cricket Board gets "accused" by media in UK of "selling the family silver", a side narrative is on about how cricket "as we know it" is dying.
But, is it?
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There are people who would go any length to argue that what's being dished out on prime-time TV these days, in the name of "cricket", is just not cricket.
"As if there aren't enough formats already..." is the regular cricket fan's quip.
The questions are valid, no doubt!
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Jan 6 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
🧵 An evolving landscape
Was reading reports of cricket administrators planning a 2-tier Test system from 2027.
"2-tier" is an incorrect term. Or let me put it this way -- it is merely a "politically correct" term.
The correct term is "Big 3".
India, England, Australia.
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The "Big 3" want a separate Test pool for themselves. That's all.
Yep, the same "Big 3" that N Srinivasan had envisaged as chairman of the ICC 10 years ago. Nothing has changed except the man from Chennai was a decade ahead of the others in thinking this through.
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Jan 5 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
🧵 #TeamIndia
In the coming week, the entire Indian cricket board (all BCCI members) is gathering for their Annual General Meeting.
For once I hope they keep cricket as the only priority when they meet. The timing can't be better for some serious introspection.
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They need to ask themselves some questions:
1) If captain & coach can't work together, one must go. Now, BCCI has to decide who will it be. But not getting along can't be an option.
2) Stop pandering to big names by spoiling opportunities for the young. Respect performances.
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Nov 29, 2024 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
🧵 #ICC #ChampionsTrophy2025
There's been so much chatter about the ICC Champions Trophy last few days.
Will India go to Pakistan, or will they not? Will Pak Cricket Board host it, or will it not?
Reminds me of SRK in the movie Darr: You Love Me, You Love Me Not. : )
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So I thought it's a good time to share some perspectives -- at least how I see things or the way I know.
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Today's apparently ICC's "virtual" meeting (wonder if it was a conscious call to not make it "physical") to decide on the tournament.
So, what's likely to happen?
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Sep 5, 2024 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
🧵
#Cricket #Broadcast #Merger #ICC
Long time, no thread. Sitting at the airport, waiting to catch a flight -- I thought let me type this one out quickly.
So many things have happened lately. 👇🏾
* Media reports said Disney asked ICC for a discount in media rights payments.
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* CCI has approved the Jio-Disney merger.
* ICC has set up a 3-member committee to investigate US World Cup finances.
* ECB's revamped version of The Hundred is gaining pace.
* BCCI is getting ready to inaugurate its brand new National Cricket Academy.
I'm sure there's more.
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May 31, 2024 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
🧵 A short "No Tobacco" story:
Since everybody's talking about the importance of #WorldNoTobaccoDay, I thought I'll share a personal experience too.
I was a habitual smoker for around 25-plus yrs. Started sometime during college and it only got worse over a period of time.
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Over the last 10 to 12 years, I was puffing away a minimum of 20+ cigarettes a day.
Working late hours made it worse.
I was convinced I would have no choice but to continue smoking for the rest of my life.
I was convinced I had become a prisoner to the habit.
Women’s Premier League: A good show indeed.
BCCI needs a pat on the back.
Let’s cut to the chase right away...
How was the #WPL broadcast received? Well, for starters, it delivered the highest viewership on any women’s event, globally.
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The tournament clocked a per-user watching time of more than 50 mins per game and saw more than 10 million first-time users log in just for the final.
And yeah, quite a final it was! Best of the world's talent, backed by the best cricket ecosystems, putting a show out there!
So far, algebra & geometry were clearly missing from Test cricket.
But looks like even that's been taken care of since so much is being spoken about India being "unfair" hosts and watering only 3/4th of the questionable 1/3rd of the Nagpur pitch.
🤦🏾
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Anyway, 3 things stand out right now:
* Wondering what brainwave caused Aussies to travel with 6 left-handers. 🤔
* India's global status as "good Test cricket hosts" being under risk for not watering remaining 0.75% of the pitch. 😆
&
* What does being a "good host" mean?
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Feb 7, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Morning!
The 2 new T20 leagues floated this year -- SA20 & IL20 -- are in their last phase.
Two distinct aspects have separated these leagues:
* One league has a great domestic circuit to use as a feeder line & sees excited crowds filling up stands every single game.
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Where this league hasn't settled yet is: they still don't have the kind of sponsorships they might want.
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* The other league does not have a domestic circuit to act as a feeder line & is heavily dependent on overseas talent. Further, crowds are not filling up stands either.
An interesting week is coming up. A total of 29 bid documents (ITT) have gone on sale and five #WIPL franchises are in the fray, waiting to be bought.
Even if a dozen of them come to the bidding table, consider it to be a winning exercise.
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And will at least a dozen come? Well, it looks like.
Remember -- not every single party that buys the ITT buys because it wants to bid. Some buy it to see what's the business model all about.
So, who all have bought? And who may bid?
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Jan 20, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
So -- cricket is not headed to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
It's official.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has finally conveyed the same to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
ICC will now have to make a fresh pitch for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
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The ICC is now putting a new Olympics committee in place and BCCI secretary Jay Shah -- who is also the Indian cricket board's representative at the ICC -- will chair it going forward.
Cricket has some serious questions to answer should it wish to head the Olympics route.
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Jan 20, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Kamlesh Makwana, a First Class veteran from Saurashtra, retired today from all forms of the game. 93 FC matches, 250 wickets, 2357 runs -- quite a career he had spanning 18 years.
Saurashtra Cric Assn did well to felicitate him.
Kamlesh is the son of Rasikbhai Makwana.
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Rasikbhai had been a curator with BCCI & Saurashtra since the early 80s, until he passed away in July 2020.
He'll be happy watching his son walk away with distinction from wherever he is.
The contribution of Makwanas to Saurashtra cricket is 2nd to none.
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Jan 19, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
A "Jamtara" has happened with the International Cricket Council (ICC). 🤦🏾
For those who can't get the reference, "Jamtara" is an exceptionally good series on Netflix that deals with the "phishing" menace.
You must watch it, if you haven't already. : )
Anyways ... 👇🏾
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The ICC too has become a victim of "phishing".
Some crook created a fake email ID in the name of one ICC's consultants in USA and wrote to the federation's CFO, raising a US$500,000 voucher to be cleared for payment.
Nobody in ICC noticed the different bank Ac No either. 🤦🏾
The number of angles to watch Messi's goal on @JioCinema from last night's game is so awesome!
With the kind of digital onset we're witnessing, sky's the limit how technology is changing ways we consume live sport.
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tinyurl.com/2zzqkvot
App Annie, tool for app analytics, says JioCinema garnered 1/3rd of downloads in entertainment in Nov’2022 (29%). In fact, the tool claims JioCinema was the fastest growing app across categories in Nov.
Fifa obviously turned on the magic here & numbers are telling a story.
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Dec 2, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
BCCI giving this a thought. Nothing confirmed yet.
How about having five women's T20 franchises from five different zones in the country?
North, east, south, west, central. Will it work?
Like -- Chennai or Bangalore, not both (south).
Mumbai or Ahmedabad, not both (west).
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Delhi or Dharamsala, not both (north).
Kolkata or Northeast (yeah, you heard that right), not both (east).
Lucknow or Jaipur, not both (central).
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Or does it have too much of a Duleep / Deodhar feel to it? More of a "zonal tournament" outlook / approach?
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Dec 2, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Action this week...
Women's IPL broadcast rights tender to come out over the next 24 hours.
Tender for Women's IPL franchises will be out next. All ready & waiting to be brought out.
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Hearing more...
BCCI has decided to do away with the idea of a base price for the women's franchise tender.
Earlier, I'd heard they'd kept it at Rs 400 cr but that won't be the case now.
There's logic behind the decision. Will tweet about it separately.
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Dec 1, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
A total of 991 players (714 Indian and 277 overseas players) have signed up to be part of the TATA #IPL 2023 Player Auction set to take place on 23rd December 2022 in Kochi.
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The players' list includes 185 capped, 786 uncapped and 20 players from Associate Nations.
