For The Love Of Sports, The IPL, The Fans..: Tennis Icon Wants RCB’s Sale to Be Forced by BCCI
On Monday, April 15, Indian tennis veteran Mahesh Bhupathi went to X (formerly Twitter) to ask BCCI to compel the sale of RCB to a new owner. The 49-year-old Bhupathi tweeted after Sunrisers Hyderabad’s crushing of RCB bowlers to every area of the field in Monday’s IPL 2024 encounter at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where they amassed the greatest total in the history of the lucrative competition.
SRH scored 287 runs for the loss of three wickets in 20 overs, thanks to innings of 102 from 41 balls from Travis Head and 67 from 31 balls from South African wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen. Twelve-time Grand Slam winner Bhupathi, embarrassed by RCB’s embarrassing performance in the IPL, requested in a tweet that the BCCI force the team’s sale to a new owner who would take the time to create a sporting franchise, just as others have.
“I believe BCCI should force the sale of RCB to a new owner who will care to build a sports franchise the way most of the other teams have done so, for the sake of sport, the IPL, the fans, and even the players.” #tragic, tweeted Bhupathi.
One of the three teams to compete in all 17 seasons of the wealthiest franchise cricket league in the world without taking home the championship is RCB, which has had Virat Kohli on its roster from the IPL’s inception.
On three separate instances (2009, 2011, and 2016), RCB was on the verge of winning the IPL championship but lost the championship game. With only two points from their first seven games played in the current IPL season, RCB sits in tenth position.
Out of seven games, RCB has lost six of them. Their hopes of making the playoffs are all but gone, despite the fact that they are still in the running to qualify.
In the IPL 2024, RCB’s next game is on Sunday, April 21, against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. On Thursday, April 25, in Hyderabad, RCB will play SRH once again.
