The owners of the Rajasthan Royals have purchased a controlling ownership in the Barbados Tridents, which will now be renamed as the Barbados Royals, extending the IPL’s footprint in the CPL even further. After Red Chillies Entertainment, the owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders, bought the Trinbago Knight Riders in 2015, and KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, the consortium that owns the Punjab Kings, bought the St Lucia Zouks last year, the Royals Sports Group is the third IPL franchise to own a team in the CPL.
image taken from : CPL T20
Barbados is one of just three teams that have won the CPL title twice. Kieron Pollard, who is now captain of the Trinbago Knight Riders, led the Tridents to victory in the 2014 CPL. Under Jason Holder’s captaincy, the Tridents won the CPL in 2019 by ending the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ unbeaten run in the final. The Tridents, on the other hand, were unable to retain their crown in 2020, finishing seventh with only three wins in ten games.
The CPL’s 2021 season will take place in St Kitts and Nevis from August 26 to September 15. Holder will continue to captain Barbados, while Kumar Sangakkara, who has been named director of cricket for the Royals in the IPL, will also manage CPL operations. The addition of the Barbados franchise to the Royals’ “environment” was welcomed by Sangakkara. The Caribbean talent, he suggested, could be used to “innovate and devise strategies” for the Royals’ expansion.
The “opportunity was too good to be missed,” according to Manoj Badale, the owner of EM Sporting Holdings Ltd, who recently raised its ownership in the Royals club to 65 percent. According to Badale, the Royals Group would own 80% of the company, with the remaining 20% going to Manish Patel, the principal of the CMG Companies, situated in Texas. Patel previously controlled the Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL from 2014 to 2016, before selling his interest and re-entering the league in 2019 by purchasing the Tridents from Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, who formerly owned the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.
Badale has long wanted to build a commercial operation for the Royals group by investing in multiple T20 leagues around the world. The Royals declared a global alliance in 2010 when they teamed up with Hampshire, the Cape Cobras, and Trinidad and Tobago to develop a global T20 brand. Although that endeavour did not succeed, the Royals have continued to explore for similar chances.
RedBird Capital Partners, which just purchased a 15% stake in the Royals’ IPL club, backed the CPL investment, according to Badale. RedBird, based in the United States, has shares in Liverpool’s parent business and the Boston Red Sox. “They are enthusiastic about the Barbados purchase.”