New Delhi, December 14 (IANS)| After Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter on earth, showed interest in being part of the T20 league, his Jamaican compatriot and former training partner Johann Blake, 31, is also keen to play in the T20 league. Blake has had a stellar career on the track, but Bolt’s performance proved his success in short. Even though he did not win an individual gold medal at the Olympics, Blake has won gold medals in the relay races at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He finished second after Bolt at the 2012 London Olympics, winning silver medals in the 100 and 200 meters sprint.
South African first-class cricketer Deepak Anand, who is currently part of the Power Sports League division, has the rights to host the soon to be played T20 league in the Gulf countries. “He is amazed at the interest shown by two great Jamaican players in the T20 league,” he told IANS.He said, “As we go about getting teams together, it is amazing to see the high interest from so many sports giants in the T20 format. IPL seems to have served the imagination of non-cricketers with cricketing talent “Even when Blake won gold in the 100 meters and 4 in 100 (relay race) races of the 2011 Athletics Championships, he still expressed his desire for cricket.
Blake was a fast bowler in school and during a match his principal saw him bowling as a fast bowler on the pitch. But Blake later got a chance to try his luck in the sprint. Even after running for the West Indies, his desire to become a fast bowler remained intact even when he had rocked the world.“I would love to play in franchise cricket,” Blake told Midday last year. Also, I would love to own a franchise in India.”
Mayank Sharma, Head of Sponsorship Division, Power Sports told IANS, “Global Sponsors always strives to make the sport great. It is our endeavor to promote the brands of those sponsors which have a positive impact on the brand. “Blake has seen the T20 format grow rapidly and the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) has assimilated assets in a short span of time and now he wants to be a part of T20 leagues.The combined cost to be received by the eight IPL teams in early 2008 was Rs 3,000 crore. On an average, it stood at Rs 375 crore per franchisee. During the recently concluded bidding, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which owns IPL assets, made Rs 12,715 crore by selling just two teams. The average value of a team is now Rs 6,357 crore, which has increased by 17 times in just 13 years.
Two Sprint legends have expressed interest to be a part of the T20 league along with India’s first live digital sports channel and Power Sports.When the T20 league starts, there is bound to be a comparison between Blake and Pakistan’s Rawalpindi Express fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. The fastest ball ever bowled by Shoaib was 161.3 km/h during the 2003 World Cup against England in Cape Town.If Blake breaks his record and Usain Bolt chases Mahendra Singh Dhoni between the wickets by running at a speed of 31 km/h, it will be a historic day for international cricket at present.It’s impossible for two Sprint Legends to do nothing.