nesswadia.in

It was a roller-coaster ride for KXIP this IPL. They lost six out of their first seven games before winning five in a row to storm back into play-off contention. The Rahul-led side needed to win its last league game against Chennai Super Kings to reach the top-four but it couldn’t. The auction is coming up soon and we would be looking to plug the gaps in the middle-order and our bowling,” Ness Wadia PTI.

 "The current situation that the world is facing is nothing short of a catastrophe. The only way I think we can overcome this pandemic is by joining hands, stepping up to the challenge and reaching out to as many of those who are left distressed, distraught and helpless. Punjab Kings joining forces with Round Table India is yet another small step towards battling this unprecedented crisis," Ness Wadia said in an official release. Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia, while announcing PBKS's COVID relief program called 'Project Saah', said the only way India can defeat the virus is by joining forces.

  Ness Wadia believed that the Board took the right decision by postponing the event at the correct time. “They took the right call at the right time. Hats off to all the players - Indians and internationals. Indian players have been inside the bubble for the last ten months and still playing. It is remarkable and the right decision has been taken at the right time,” Wadia said. While the BCCI expects a loss of around Rs. 2000 crore with the postponement of the tournament, Wadia isn’t willing to think about that yet for the franchise. “Human beings come first and monetary losses come second. If the tournament does happen again, I am not sure how much the loss would be or not. We will have to see what happens,” he said.

Ness Wadia “We needed to rebrand and reinvent ourselves after so many years,” the team’s co-owner said. KXIP is now Punjab Kings and its co-owner Ness Wadia on Saturday said the franchise needed to rebrand itself after so many years of IPL and the name change was something it wanted since 2019. Wadia feels Punjab Kings is a simpler name compared to Kings XI Punjab and will connect more with their fan base. "We just felt that we wanted to relook at things. We needed to rebrand and reinvent ourselves after so many years. As they say if something doesn't work, change it and try and get it working," Wadia told PTI, referring to the team's title-less run in the IPL since the event's inaugural edition in 2008. "Kings XI Punjab had a reference to the playing XI. Punjab Kings is more inclusive and will resonate better with the fans,” he said.

Instead of speculating on the IPL’s title sponsorship, Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia says the focus must be on ensuring that not a single  Covid-19   case is reported during the event, which according to him, is set to be the “best ever”. Though the BCCI has not confirmed that Chinese mobile phone maker Vivo has pulled out of title sponsorship for this season, it is likely that the company will back out from the Rs. 440 crore per year contract at least this season given the soaring Sino-India diplomatic tensions.

  I think we are all starved of good quality live sports. The IPL is the biggest tournament in the world in terms of cricket. And I have no doubt at all that people are sitting at home, and there’s only a certain amount of news one wants to watch on Covid-19 or the other things that are going on. I think sports is something that brings the family together – a lot of the people who watch the IPL are young kids, middle-aged and elderly. So, it brings everyone together, and in my view, that’s the reason why I think it’s going to be the most watched, apart from the fact that a lot of people are waiting for it, frankly speaking. I mean, (let’s) put it this way, a lot more people are watching even the Caribbean Premier League, said Ness Nusli Wadia