MUMBAI: Legendary Australia cricketer Shane Warne claims a gamble that he took in first edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) could result in a huge pay day for him in the future.
According to Australia’s Herald Sun, Warne was paid $657,000 to come out of retirement and play for Rajasthan Royals in the cash-rich league. Warne has now revealed he struck a deal with the Royals that saw him get 0.75% ownership of the team.
“Part of my deal because I had retired from international cricket and I came out (of retirement), they asked me to be captain, coach and run a cricket team the way I wanted to run it; I was the one-stop shop,” Warne told Herald Sun.
“We were the underdogs, we were the least favoured, no one gave us a chance to win. It was the first ever year of the IPL of franchise cricket where owners bought players and players went into auctions.”
The IPL franchise currently has a reported enterprise value of $200 million and Warne is looking ahead to cashing out when the team’s valuation hits $400 million.
