Reportage
Google has spent fifteen years embedding itself into cricket's ecosystem: as a platform, a sponsor, a rights-market observer, and now a kingmaker. The sport's two biggest auctions arrive in 2027. The groundwork is already laid.
Exclusives
The RCB and RR sales are now entangled, with overlapping bidders, shifting timelines, and each side watching to see what price the other commands. Meanwhile, the shortlists narrow and complications mount.
Reportage
For decades, cricket's margins existed in silence. Then visibility became a commodity that could be manufactured, and everything changed.
Reportage
The State of Play can reveal the complete list of bidders for both franchises as RCB narrows the field and Rajasthan Royals moves towards binding bids
Reportage
Pakistan’s proposed forfeit undermines JioStar’s $900 million tournament and the ICC funding system that sustains the game. Cricket has monetised the rivalry for years. The ledger finally became too heavy.
Exclusives
The race for the two IPL franchises is now down to a handful of serious bidders. Months of exploratory conversations have given way to firmer offers, as buyers begin to confront the numbers and the realities of ownership
Reportage
India’s elite athletes train with equipment that is meant to be replaced. A Bengaluru-based manufacturer is betting that coaches and not procurement will change that logic
Reportage
How the ISL is attempting to rebuild in 39 days what took a decade to construct
Reportage
What happens when India’s greatest cricketer treats footwear as an engineering problem, not an endorsement
Reportage
The broadcaster finds itself trapped in a $3 billion contract it can’t afford and can’t exit. The workaround taking shape will determine whether Indian cricket’s decade of growth was sustainable or inflated.
Exclusives
A deep-pocketed gaming giant seeks a minority stake while a diversified conglomerate eyes majority or full ownership
Exclusives
India’s online real-money gaming ban vaporised Dream11’s profit engine. Next week, the company relaunches with a radically different design. The State of Play has exclusive details on what comes next.
