The Caribbean Premier League’s team Barbados Tridents will now be known as the Barbados Royals. With the owners of the Rajasthan Royals having the majority of the stakes in the Barbados Tridents.
The Barbados franchise is one of the three teams to win the CPL title twice. The Tridents won the 2014 CPL under the captaincy of Kieron Pollard, who is now captain at the Trinbago Knight Riders. In 2019 the Tridents ended the unbeaten run of the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the final to win the CPL under the captaincy of Jason Holder.
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Manoj Badale, who owns EM Sporting Holdings Ltd, which recently increased its stake to 65% in the Royals franchise, said the “opportunity was too good to be missed” on the acquisition in the Barbados franchise. According to Badale, the Royals Group will have an 80% stake with the remaining staying with the Texas-based Manish Patel, the principal of the CMG Companies. Patel is also the owner of the Austin Athletics in the Minor League Cricket T20 competition.
The Royals thus become the third franchise of the IPL to own a team in the CPL. Previously in the year 2015, the Kolkata Knight Riders owners, Red Chillies Entertainment, bought the Trinbago Knight Riders. On the other hand, KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, the association that is the owners of the Punjab Kings had bought the St Lucia Zouks last year.
Holder will continue as the captain of Barbados. Kumar Sangakkara who is the Royals director of cricket in the Indian Premier League will also supervise the operations of the CPL.
The 2021 season of the CPL will start on August 26.