The BBL may have been born near the start of Twenty20 era, but ahead of its 15th season growing pains have set in. Cricket Australia wants to tap private funding to help Australia’s men’s and women’s competitions keep pace in franchise cricket’s crowded landscape. But as the BBL rubs up against well-heeled upstarts in the sport’s increasingly unstable calendar, its true worth can be difficult to assess.
Few are better placed to do so than Venky Harinarayan, the Indian-born, Silicon Valley investor, who is a leading name in San Francisco’s venture capital scene. In the sport he loves, he established his home town’s franchise the Unicorns in 2023 with co-owner Anand Rajaraman, and made headlines when he signed Pat Cummins in a pioneering four-year deal that gave Major League Cricket [MLC] legitimacy.
