Barbados Royals

Picture Credit: CPL

Caribbean Premier League franchise Barbados Tridents are set to be renamed as Barbados Royals after the owners of the Rajasthan Royals, The Royals Sports Group bought a majority stake in the Barbados Tridents. Notably, Barbados Tridents will become the third CPL team to be owned by an IPL franchise after Trinbago Knight Riders and St Lucia Zouks. Red Chillies Entertainment, owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders, bought the Trinbago Knight Riders in 2015 while KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, the consortium that owns the Punjab Kings, bought the St Lucia Zouks last year.

The Barbados franchise has won the CPL title twice in 2014 and 2019. However, in CPL 2020, the defending champions had a disappointing campaign and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Sangakkara welcomes the move

Kumar Sangakkara, who was appointed as the Rajasthan Royals' director of cricket, welcomed the move. Sangakkara will also oversee the CPL operations along with his IPL commitments. The former Sri Lankan wicket-keeper welcomed the addition of the Barbados franchise to the Royals' "ecosystem". He expressed the Caribbean talent could be utilised to "innovate and develop strategies" for the growth of the Royals group.

Jason Holder retained by Barbados Tridents for CPL 2021

Barbados Tridents had announced in May that captain Jason Holder had been retained for the upcoming season. In addition to Holder, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Nyeem Young and Joshua Bishop had also been retained by the franchise for 2021 Caribbean Premier League.