The owners of Kolkata Knight Riders say they hope to play a role in establishing cricket in “the world's most sophisticated sports and media market”, after investing in Major League Cricket in the United States.
The Knight Riders Group, who own the IPL franchise in Kolkata, as well as the Caribbean Premier League franchise in Trinidad and Tobago, have become stakeholders in the venture in America.
“For several years now, we have been expanding the Knight Riders brand globally and closely watching the potential for T20 cricket in the USA,” Shah Rukh Khan, a co-owner of Knight Riders Group, said.
“We are convinced that Major League Cricket has all the pieces in place to execute on its plans and we look forward to making our partnership an enormous success in the coming years.”
Venky Mysore, the chief executive of Kolkata Knight Riders, said expansion into the US is part of the group’s “long-term strategy”.
“We feel fortunate to have been consistently recognised as one of the best franchises in T20 cricket and have become one of the fastest growing sports brands in the world.
“As T20 cricket expands internationally, we are flattered by the regular inbound requests to play a major role in growing the sport abroad.
“We have had a keen interest in the developments in the United States and our expansion into the US is consistent with our long-term strategy.
“We look forward to the new challenge of building cricket in the world's most sophisticated sports and media market.
“We believe that we can bring a huge amount of expertise to help make Major League Cricket realise the potential that it undoubtedly has.”
American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) say Major League Cricket “will deliver the highest quality professional T20 cricket for US cricket fans”.
The league will feature international players from the US and around the world, with a focus on developing a homegrown player pool for USA Cricket and the league.
“By adding the Knight Riders Group to our family of world-class and diverse investors, [it] is a huge validation of our vision for the new league,” Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, representatives of ACE, were quoted as saying.
“As USA Cricket’s official partner in developing a professional T20 league in America, we have a shared vision to bring world-class professional cricket to the world’s largest sports market.
“The announcement today is a significant step forward in showing the potential of the American market, and we are delighted to have the backing and expertise of the Knight Riders Group to help us achieve this vision.”
The US national team play in the same competition as the UAE. They were second in the World Cricket League Division Two points table – with UAE in fifth – before the tournament was suspended because of Covid-19.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Places to go for free coffee
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Match info
Uefa Champions League Group B
Barcelona v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight
The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
Why are you, you?
Why are you, you?
From this question, a new beginning.
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Why are you, you?
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Ben Okri,
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
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