Actress buys stake in IPL side Rajasthan Royals
ACTRESS Shilpa Shetty looks set to do battle with Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta on the cricket field after she became the fourth Bollywood star to buy into the Indian Premier League cricket extravaganza.
The Celebrity Big Brother winner splashed out $15.4m to buy a stake in the Rajasthan Royals team who won the inaugural league last year.
Shetty acquired an 11.7% stake in a joint partnership with partner and UK businessman Raj Kundra.
The actress is now the fourth Bollywood star to move into the cricketing world alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla who own rivals Kolkata Knight Riders, and Preity Zinta who owns a stake on the Kings XI Punjab team.
Shetty, who owns her own film production company, said she was “very passionate” about cricket.
“Cricket is not a sport in our country, it’s a religion”, she said. “I am very passionate about Cricket and who better to invest in than the current reigning IPL champions. It completes the success story for the IPL team by merging with Bollywood.”
Kundra, a London-businessman, added Shilpa’s involvement in the project was a “winning formula” in creating a “true global cricket brand”.
Player auctions for the forthcoming season of the IPL will take place this Friday with England star Kevin Pietersen valued at a phenomenal $1.35m.
