The Art of IPL Ownership
It was all fun and games in 2008. The IPL launched with the glitz and glamour combining India’s finest- cricket stars, Bollywood’s biggest and the business worlds titans. Whether it was Shah Rukh Khan or Mukesh Ambani, it frankly could not get bigger. But what has clearly emerged in the past 12 seasons is a hierarchy within the league. The Chennai Super Kings, Kolkatta Knight Riders and Mumbai Indian’s have separated themselves from the rest of the pack and while a lot of belief has been put in to the players a tremendous amount of credit must go to the management. KKR was a struggling franchise for the first three years of the IPL where they did not qualify for the playoffs even once. Then things turned around in 2011. They made the playoffs and eventually won the title in 2012. They are now two time champions and in most seasons a team that either makes the playoffs or just misses out. What happened? The management took some tough decisions. To release Soura