New Delhi, December 14, : .Following Usain Bolt’s declaration that he wants to join a T20 League team, Yohan Blake from Jamaica, 31 years old, has also declared his desire to get on board — and maybe even own a team!Bolt’s incredible runs overshadowed Blake’s long and distinguished career.
Blake was awarded the gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the Olympic Games 2012 and 2016.However, Blake finished second to Bolt in the 200m and 100m sprints at the London Olympics 2012, earning silver medals.
Deepak Anand is a South African First-class Cricketer who currently plays in the Power Sportz League division.The Power Sportz League has the rights to host a T20 League at an unidentified location in the Middle East.Deepak said that he was simply amazed by their keenness.
It’s incredible to witness the high level of interest shown by so many sports legends when we put teams together in T20.He said that the IPL seems to have captured the attention of people who are not cricketers but possess great talent.
Blake was still a passionate cricket fan even when the athletes were blazing the track around the globe.
He won a double gold medal at Daegu’s World Athletics Championships in 2011 — 100m and 4x100m relay.
Blake played fast bowling at school.
It was during one match that Blake’s principal noticed how quickly he was running between the wickets.Blake was encouraged to run sprints.Blake’s desire to be a fast bowler and wear the West Indies shirt remained constant as he raced around the world.
Blake said to MidDay that he would like to play in franchise cricket and would also love to have a franchise to represent India.
Mayank Sharma from Power Sportz’s Sponsorship Division told IANS, “Global sponsors always look for the halo effect” and that sports properties that have product mixes with community-oriented sponsorships achieve a higher halo effect due to their positive effect on sponsor brand attributes.
Blake would have seen the rapid rise of the T20 format and the wealth the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) has assimilated in a short span of time, and would now like to be a part of the T20 ecosystem.
For starters, the combined cost of acquiring eight IPL teams in 2008 — the year it all started — was Rs 3,000 crore.On an average it worked out to Rs 375 crore per franchise.
During the recently concluded bid, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which owns the IPL property, made Rs 12,715 crore by selling just two teams.The average price tag of a team now stands at Rs 6,357 crore, a whopping 17-fold jump in just 13 years.
With the two sprint legends expressing keen interest in India’s first Live Digital Sports Channel, Power Sportz’s latest venture, it’s a matter of time before many such legends take a cue from them and become a part of the T20 League.
When the T20 League commences, comparisons are bound to be drawn between Blake and ‘Rawalpindi Express’, Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, the fastest bowler the world has seen.It was during the World Cup in 2003 that the right-arm Pakistan speedster clocked the fastest delivery ever — 161.3km/hr against England at Cape Town.
If Blake matches that, or even breaks the record, or if Usain Bolt runs faster than Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 31km/hr between the wickets — the former India captain currently holds the record — it will be a historic day for international cricket.
With the two superhumanly powerful sprint legends, nothing is impossible.
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