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During the fifth episode of his newly launched “WTF” podcast, entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath had the father of former cricketer Aryaman Birla - Kumar Mangalam Birla - the Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, as his guest. When Nikhil Kamath asked Kumar Mangalam Birla about whether he considered the option of buying an IPL team, the businessman categorically said “no” before stating that he hasn’t understood the model of the league for the longest time.
It was just a couple of weeks ago when the son of billionaire-industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla announced his shock retirement from cricket at just 22 years of age. While representing Madhya Pradesh from 2017 to 2019 in First-Class and List A cricket, Aryaman Birla was signed by Rajasthan Royals for the IPL 2018 season, but the youngster, who was in his teen years at the time, wasn’t given a match in the league before being released after two seasons at the franchise.
No: Kumar Managlam Birla responds to considering the option of buying an IPL team
After not managing to take his career to the next level in the last few years, including his break from the sport due to mental health problems, the youngster finally called it quits earlier this month. Shortly after, in the recent podcast with Nikhil Kamath, his father Kumar Mangalam Birla, who reportedly boasts INR 70,000 Crore net worth, was asked about whether he thought of being an owner of an IPL team, to which the businessman responded with a no.
Watch the video here:
Kumar Mangalam Birla went on to give his reason for not considering the option of buying an IPL team, and said, “I couldn’t understand the model of the IPL for the longest. It’s about the capital allocation as well. When you have a lot of interesting opportunities before you. You’ve got to make choices. I am not the sort of person nor in my family or my son (Aryaman Birla) kind of person who would say because I’ve been a cricketer, let’s buy an IPL team. I don’t work like that.”
