Mohanlal And Priyadarshan to launch new team in IPL

And finally, a team from the hailing God's Own Country, and the man behind this- Malayalikalude swantham Lalettan. Director and friend Priyadarshan is also expected to assciate Mohanlal in this new venture, which has already become a hit news. The team is likely to be named as "City Cricketers" which was the name of Mohanlal's school and college cricket team.  Mohanlal was having a penchant with cricket from his childhood days and has just decided to meet their deep love for cricket materialize in this form. The actor has also decided to approach the Kerala Cricket Association to get to know the formalities and as per the sources, he is expected to hold talks with the MP Shashi Tharoor to seek his help in this regard.

“During our school and college days, we had a cricket team, City Cricketers, for which I used to open the innings; Mohanlal was the all rounder and pinch hitter. Some of our team members played in the Ranji Trophy for Kerala, while others got into Malayalam film industry,” says Priyadarsan getting nostalgic. 

Says Mohanlal, “We’re trying to nurture local talent, as the most successful IPL players this year have been little known guys like Manish Pandey, Pragyan Ojha, and Kamran Khan. There are a lot of youngsters in the small towns of Kerala and Tamil Nadu waiting to get a break. They have the talent, but lack exposure and world class training facilities.”  Two NRIs and a few corporates are willing to fund the project which will cost around Rs 250 crore. The team will have its own state-of-the-art cricket stadium near Kovalam. Former Indian player and fielding coach Robin Singh has been signed as the technical director.
 

With Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and other biggies of Bollywood attached to IPL, the entry of Mohanlal into the fray from the south is definitely bound to make a difference. BCCI also plans to include more teams into IPL and therefore with the arrival of Mohanlal we hope that Kerala will get duly represented as well.