For owners, the franchise is a commercial asset and the Indian Premier League is both pleasure and business
The IPL invited private investment into cricket and discovered (perhaps accidentally) a magic formula that makes insane money for everyone playing this game. The IPL changed cricket’s architecture by creating a Rs27 crore player and an alternate power centre — the team owner, the new boss.
Shah Rukh Khan is known to be supportive but non-interfering owner of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders (BCCI)
Team owners are serious businessmen who invested serious money into cricket. For them, the franchise is a commercial asset (some dismiss it as an expensive toy) and the IPL is both pleasure and business.
The IPL investor/owner calls the shots, he holds the remote control and pushes buttons. During auctions, he takes calls on the careers of players by picking up the paddle, or shaking his head to reject those he does not fancy.
IPL teams reflect the vision and the personality of their owners. That is why MI is very different from Gujarat Titans or Punjab Kings. MI is a grand, rich, mega brand which (obviously) plays cricket and supports players even outside the IPL. It also has an impressive non-cricket profile with extensive CSR activities in community engagement, education and women empowerment. CVC owned Gujarat Titans, in comparison, is a hardcore business proposition focused on delivering a positive ROI for its investors.
RCB is a spirited, flamboyant franchise influenced by a celebrity owner (Vijay Mallya, the King of Good Times) and King Kohli, their celebrity player. CSK is a solid non-flash winner franchise which started as a subsidiary of a cement company but is now a corporate giant itself. CSK’s identity is linked to MSD and when the owner famously said ‘CSK is MSD and MSD is CSK’, the Thala agreed. CSK is my team, he said.
Every IPL team has a distinct culture and a unique management style. At Hyderabad, the Sunrisers carry a strong imprint of owner Kavya Maran who is pretty much hands on. RR is relatively low key (compared to MI, RCB) but functions efficiently, having developed a management system where owners take key cricket/business decisions and give space to others for operations issues.
The situation in teams with multiple/joint owners is somewhat tricky. Kings Punjab have had a turbulent history, it’s the team with most churn (captains, coaches, players keep getting sacked) and that’s one reason why their on-field results are dismal.
DC, RR, and KKR — teams with more than one owner — however, are consistent in their own way. DC has two sets of owners (GMR and JSW) who share management responsibilities, each has a two-year term to lead the franchise. Such power sharing formula, with periodic change of guard, has precedents in politics and can be potentially disruptive but DC is remarkably steady.
At KKR, co-owner SRK casts a long shadow on the franchise. He is the team’s key asset and impact player but describes himself as a 12th man. King Khan is known to be supportive but non-interfering, involved but not obsessed. A sensitive owner who empowers trusted professionals. Which is not the case in every IPL franchise.
Owners who are hyper interact actively with players and are not shy to tell top professionals how to play cricket. But, compared to the time IPL started 18 seasons ago, there is greater balance between involvement and interference and owners have stepped back a shade. Some choose to be faceless; others can’t even if they want to because they attract relentless media attention.
The camera catches their studied detachment (when things are not going their way), or joy as happened when DC’s 98% predicted loss to LSG was converted into an improbable win by Ashutosh Sharma’s last-ball six. During tough situations, (the owner you know who) can get very, very angry but others (for example, King Khan) stoically hide their sorrow behind dark shades or console a distraught team by offering a friendly embrace.
Recently, with IPL owners buying T20 properties across the world, their influence has grown dramatically. Like aggressive adventurers of the past, IPL team owners are cricket’s new czars who own multiple cricket assets globally. Suddenly, with the acquisition spree, owners now have greater authority and a louder voice.
This change is profound because T20 is the preferred format of fans and cricket’s structure must adjust to this shift. Whenever world cricket order is reorganised (with exclusive windows created for Tests, ODI’s, bilaterals, T20) the IPL owners will be heard.
What’s already established is IPL owners are themselves active players and their influence extends beyond India’s domestic 20-over tournament. With boundaries pushed back, the game of IPL owners just got bigger.
