IPL franchise Royals to pounce on Yorkshire in English cricket first
Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise the Rajasthan Royals have tabled a bid for English county Yorkshire, according to reports.
The bid for the troubled club is said to be £25m, £10m more than the £15m the club need to raise to pay off what’s owed to ex-chair Colin Graves.
The offer, according to the Daily Mail, will be put to the board this month.
IPL x UK
Yorkshire would be an attractive acquisition for an IPL franchise due to its status as an international cricket venue.
But the county has been caught up in a major racism scandal which originated with whistleblowing from former player Azeem Rafiq.
The side were fined £400,000 and docked points following the saga.
“I think it’s a part of future strategy,” IPL expert and journalist Himanshu Pareek told City PM when asked about the franchise approach. “Previously, reports have surfaced that teams wanted players like [Jofra] Archer and [Jos] Buttler to play for them all around the year in their different leagues.
“They [the Royals] might be willing to get fresh budding talent straight away into the franchise without introducing them to international cricket.
Owning = easy
“Or if they are playing international cricket already, owning the home club makes it easier for them to approach that player – maybe later they sell a player to some other franchise too for a price.
“The effort is to strengthen their team, Rajasthan Royals have always invested in English talent and now other teams could be following this strategy too. Cricket is going the way of football and it has started in India.
“It is inevitable, because IPL itself was inspired from foreign football leagues, and whatever happens there will happen here now. Same system, different sport.”
It would be a major shift for the English game if overseas cash found its way into the game with concerns already in place over foreign intentions surrounding the contracts of some of England’s best players.