KKR CEO bats for Indian players in Caribbean Premier League
Image Courtesy: © TKR
Caribbean Premier League already has an Indian touch with the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders owning a stake in the Trinbago Knight Riders, but the CEO Venky Mysore wants to see more Indian presence in the league and hopes the Indian board will allow emerging players to play in the T20 tournament.
“I think it will be great to have Indian players as well. The board has its own reasoning for (restricting involvement), but I hope it at least allows some emerging players to play for CPL because there is a lot of talent on offer. It will also be great for them to come and have this kind of exposure,” Venky Mysore said in an interview to Firstpost.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has never allowed its cricketers to take part in other T20 leagues around the world to give priority to the domestic tournaments. (Also Read: Our pick for the winners and losers of IPL 2016 after the spending spree)
The Trinbago Knight Riders, which was recently rebranded, has star players like Brendon McCullum, Hashim Amla, Umar Akmal and Sunil Narine in their team and will defend the championship that they won last year. Venky Mysore also confirmed that they are trying to adjust the match timings to attract more Indian audience to the CPL.
“We have been in discussion with CPL. We are working with the broadcasters on some ideas because last year’s CPL stats were quite impressive.
“Maybe it was a coincidence but with our entry, Indian viewership has doubled and it is now 50 per cent of CPL viewership,” Mysore said.
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