Indian Premier League

Vijay Mallya

Global League

Kieron Pollard

Alzarri Joseph plays match hours after death of his mother Alzarri Joseph, 22, was on duty for West Indies in 2nd Test against England after learning of his mother’s death

Sacramento Kings

Mahindra

WEST INDIAN LEAGUE

Sushil Kumar acquires Patriots and all Caribbean Premier League teams now have Indian owners.One could, perhaps, call it the Caribbean version of the(IPL). The desi CPL? Well, metaphorically certainly, if not exactly, totally and literally. There may not be Indian players in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), entering its seventh year, but the franchises are owned either by Indians or Indian origin businessmen having the majority stake.From a media baron to a real estate tycoon to a fast food supplier to a financial consultant to a film star and finally an absconding business tycoon… the desi spectrum in the Caribbean is quite wide. So, Shah Rukh Khan andare not the only Indians out there.The latest to join the CPL bandwagon is Hong Kongbased Sushil Kumar, who yesterday purchased the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots franchise. Kumar is a Kerala-born economics post graduate from Ahmedabad. A gold medallist from Gujarat University, Kumar migrated to Hong Kong after working in the SBI till 1991.In Hong Kong, the 58-year old Kumar started his City Group of business which deals in finance, entertainment, event management, fashion, sports, sports analytics and sports management. He was a wannabe owner of a T20 franchise, but missed out on owning one after the T20in South Africa became a non-starter. He had purchased the Bloem City Blazers of Bloemfontein franchise. “I was always interested in cricket team. The SA league did not happen, but yesterday we managed to buy the Patriots team,” Kumar told Mirror from the Caribbean after buying the team yesterday.“With a total economic impact for the Hero CPL 2018 being in excess of $127 million, we are looking to bring a greater economic impact to St Kitts & Nevis in 2019 and beyond. We are also hoping our investment into the St Kitts & Nevis franchise is a catalyst to further investment into the country and growth of its economy,” Kumar said in a statement.Like Kumar, Jay Pandya, the owner of St Lucia Stars, has his roots in Gujarat. He eventually migrated to the US where he has a flourishing fast food chain, his main business interest. Most Pizza Huts in Pennsylvania are apparently his. The 50-year old Pandya is known to have interests in cricket, having bought the media rights of US cricket and aims to build a stadium in the US.The Stars, however, have not exactly managed to set the Caribbean grounds on fire. Captained by, the St Lucia team have done rather badly, finishing in the bottom two of the six-team league in almost all the six seasons.Bobby Ramroop owns the Guyana Amazon Warriors team. A doctor by profession, having done his medical degree in India, Ramroop has a variety of business interests.Close to 50, Ramroop has links to high and mighty in Guyana, owns a newspaper, TV station and a pharmaceutical company. Besides, he is also linked to Guyana cricket. The Jamaica Tallawahs are promoted by a certain Kris Persaud, who owns an apartment complex in Florida.His parents are Dhanwantie and Shivpaul Persaud and obviously he also has Indian links. His name, Kris Persaud, it is said, is a take-off from Krishna Prasad, a regular south Indian name, as is his mother’s name, Dhanwantie.Persaud purchased the Tallawahs two years back but both the CPL titles for the franchise came before he took over – in 2013 and 2016.And finally, the final two – Shah Rukh and Mallya. There cannot be any disputes about their Indian connections here. Shah Rukh owns the most successful team in the league, the Trinbago Knight Riders of Trinidad and Tobago. It has triumphed in three of the six seasons.Mallya’s Barbados Tridents had won the second season but at that time, he still was not its owner. He went in there as a high-profile owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team of the IPL.Since then, he has lost control of the RCB team and one is not sure how long he will manage to keep the Tridents. The CPL officials, of course, won’t comment on his bank fraud in India and court cases in London.QPRFootballEnglish ChampionshipLaxmi MittalBlackburn RoversFootball(English Championship)Venky’s groupBasketballNBAVivek RanadiveRacingMotorsportFormula E championshipMahindra & Mahindra