Bollywood hitmaker Priyadarshan has a dream - an IPL team from Kerala! He is working religiously towards it, though he says it’s too early to divulge details.
It is not a secret that his second love is cricket.
An ardent follower, student and player of the game in his college days, this super director keeps a regular tab on the game.
IPL is set to add four more teams after two years and now Kerala can hope to be one among them. “Yes, it’s my dream. We have the talent, but not the exposure and world class training facilities.
The growth of the game and realisation of our IPL dream would depend a lot on the support of the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), especially in providing state-of-the-art facilities,” he said on the sidelines of an interaction with players of ‘City Cricketers’, a leading club here that he has taken over as president. Dr Shashi Tharoor, the new Union Minister of State for External Affairs accepted chairmanship of the club a fortnight ago, while Malayalam superhero Mohanlal is patron of the club, adding to the filmy touch.
The Priyadarshan-Mohanlal duo came out with many Malayalam blockbusters before the former moved on to Bollywood and created superhits there. The duo is now coming together to create a ‘blockbuster’ of a different kind. Priyadarshan’s keen cricketing sense and Mohanlal’s star value could combine to produce another big cricketing brand.
Priyadarshan was instrumental in giving a handful of young Kerala cricketers a chance to attend the selection trials of the Kolkata Knight Riders. “They might not have made it to the first XI though all of them - N Niaz, Mohammed Sanuth, Rohan Prem, P Prashanth and teenage batting sensation Sanju V Samson - were shortlisted for the camp. But the level of exposure they got will do them a world of good. They got to see how international players train and the kind of facilities they miss (out on). Exposure makes all the difference and my efforts will be to get these boys (City Cricketers) as much match exposure as possible.
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