IPL is the number one franchise based cricketing competition in the world. The brand value of IPL and the IPL franchises is in millions, and almost every cricketer wishes to participate in the Indian Premier League. Apart from the active players, even the coaching staff earns decent amounts, as the IPL franchise seeks to have an experienced coach who can not only guide the senior players but also train the youngsters to perfection.
Sometimes, it happens that a cricketer makes a name for himself in international cricket, and in the coming years, his son makes the country proud with his performances. The father retires, and either enjoys his life at home or takes up the role of a cricket commentator, cricket expert, or a coach after retirement.
In this article, we will have a look at those four instances in IPL history when a father and a son were a part of the same IPL franchise.
4. Sachin Tendulkar – mentor of MI franchise; Arjun Tendulkar – player of MI in IPL 2021
Sachin Tendulkar was the icon player of the Mumbai Indians during the inaugural IPL season. He captained the team, and later allowed others to lead the Mumbai-based IPL franchise. Tendulkar won his only IPL trophy in the 2013 season under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
While Rohit is still the skipper of the Mumbai Indians, Tendulkar has taken up the role of the team’s mentor. Earlier this year, the Mumbai Indians bought the services of Sachin’s son Arjun Tendulkar at IPL Auction 2021. It will be interesting to see how Arjun performs in his first-ever IPL season for the Mumbai Indians.
3. Geoff Marsh – Coach of Pune Warriors; Mitchell Marsh – player of PWI from 2011 to 2013
Geoff Marsh is the father of two current Australian cricketers – Mitchell Marsh and Shaun Marsh. While Shaun joined the Punjab Kings team in 2008 and stayed with them until 2017, Mitchell did not get retained by the Deccan Chargers after the 2010 IPL season.
As a result, Mitchell entered the auction and then joined the Pune Warriors, who had appointed Geoff Marsh as their head coach. Mitchell played three seasons for the Pune Warriors before the IPL franchise got disbanded. Last year, Mitchell Marsh was a member of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team in the IPL.
2. Kris Srikkanth – Mentor of CSK IPL franchise; Anirudha Srikkanth – player of CSK from IPL 2008 to 2013
Kris Srikkanth is a former Indian cricketer, who played international cricket for the country from 1981 to 1992. Ahead of the inaugural season of the IPL, Kris Srikkanth was named the mentor and the brand ambassador of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise.
Srikkanth’s son Anirudha Srikkanth also played for the Chennai Super Kings in that season. In fact, Anirudha played five seasons for the team. He represented the MS Dhoni-led outfit in 19 matches, aggregating 133 runs at a strike rate of 123.15. The fans remember him for his 64-run knock at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in the IPL 2011 opener versus the Kolkata Knight Riders.
1. Kris Srikkanth – Mentor of Sunrisers Hyderabad; Anirudha Srikkanth – player of SRH in IPL 2014
Another entry featuring the father-son pair of Kris Srikkanth and Anirudha Srikkanth is from the 2014 IPL season. The Sunrisers Hyderabad joined the IPL in 2013. The new franchise appointed the legendary duo of VVS Laxman and Krishnamachari Srikkanth as their mentors.
Soon, Anirudha Srikkanth reunited with his father at SRH. The Hyderabad-based franchise signed him at IPL 2014 Auction but only gave him one chance to prove himself, where he scored three runs. That season proved to be Anirudha’s last outing in the IPL.
