CEO Venky Mysore: TKR fans make us number one

TRINBAGO Knight Riders (TKR) CEO and managing director Venky Mysore says the franchise wouldn't be as successful as it is today without the support of its loyal fans which has helped make the Knight Riders brand the "most recognised" in the world.

On the field of play, TKR are in the midst of the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign as they vie for an unprecedented fifth title. Last season, TKR fell at the last hurdle as they lost to Guyana Amazon Warriors by nine wickets in the final – the first trophy for the latter team in the tournament's 12-year history.

For TKR, the players and their fan base have grown accustomed to lifting titles, with the TT franchise winning the 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020 crowns. The first of those titles came under the TT Red Steel banner, with the local franchise then being taken over by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment conglomerate in 2015 and rebranding from TT Red Steel to TKR in 2016.

The marriage with the Knight Riders Group and TT has been a successful one thus far, with the franchise adding three titles since the change of ownership.

On September 20, the TKR players and staff celebrated this period of excellence at their Decade of Champions gala dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.

The event featured addresses by Mysore and the franchise's first captain Dwayne Bravo, with the former delving into Knight Riders Group's initial vision for their brand and the overwhelming success and reach it has attained thus far.

The Knight Riders Group's appetite for the T20 game started in 2008 with three-time IPL champs Kolkata Knight Riders, before expanding to TT with TKR and adding further franchises in the US and United Arab Emirates respectively. In 2022, TKR's women's team was added to the list of franchises, and they marked the occasion by winning the inaugural Massy Women's CPL title the same year.

This year, IPL observer Vankina Chamundeswaranath watched the Women's CPL competition and he told Newsday the Board of Control for Cricket in India was very much interested in sending more players to the tournament. This year, Indian players Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey featured prominently for the TKR women.

"When we started, our vision was to globalise our brand and globalise our fan base. Before we came to CPL and the Caribbean we had only had one franchise. Now, we have five," Mysore said, during a press conference before the gala event.

"It's for us to be able to keep our fingers on the pulse of the fans and understand what their expectations are. They love the idea of coming and being entertained. But what's next for the fans?

"We want to continue to be in a listening mode so we understand what the fans' expectations are and the fan experience we work so hard on...we have a brand which is the most recognised brand in T20 cricket in the world. Wherever you go and you mention Knight Riders, everybody knows who we are and what we stand for."

Whether it's the 70,000 capacity venue at Eden Gardens, Kolkata or the Carnival-centric venues at the Queen's Park Oval in St Clair or the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Knight Riders' matches have two things in common – passionate fans and sold-out arenas.

Despite hosting its first tourney in 2008, Mysore said, "the IPL is only second to NFL among all sports" on a per-game basis.

Mysore says the CPL, which started in 2013, has "grown from strength to strength" every year and he said its upward trajectory can only lead to positives for West Indies cricket and international cricket's ecosystem.

"We really didn't know (the TKR brand) was going to become this big. Whether it was IPL, CPL, Major League Cricket or the International League T20, we honestly didn't think it would be this big.

"But it's largely down to our fans. There was a vision, you create a product and put it out there and then you wait and see what the reaction is. It's been embraced so strongly."

Mysore said the partnerships the Knight Riders formed over the years have also aided its success, and he described the union with TT as a "win-win" one.

And although TKR is the most successful team in the CPL, Mysore said the development of younger players hasn't been ignored and he pointed to talents such as Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales and Khary Pierre (now St Lucia Kings) as the players who have reaped the rewards of the franchise's scouting system.

"The expectations we came here to TT with was to have an opportunity to create a platform to be consistent with the brand and the type of organisation we built back in India," he said.

"There's no doubt about it. The quality of cricket and the competitive nature of the tournament has significantly increased...the local quality and the depth of it has been terrific."

On any further expansion plans from the Knight Riders Group, he said, "our ambition is only going to be limited by the type of resources we have and the bandwidth."

The women's game is not forgotten in the Knight Riders' plans, and Mysore said the organisation's investment in the TKR women is for the long haul.

"I think the potential for growth in the women's game is significantly more than men's cricket.

"I see tremendous potential and it very prominently fits into the scheme of things for the Knight Riders for sure."

(With reporting by Stephon Nicholas).