Kochi, Sep 16 : Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has ended his association with Kerala Blasters Football Club (KBFC), the Indian Super League (ISL) outfit said in a statement on Sunday.
"Sachin has been a great support and we thank him for his immense contribution to KBFC. He will forever be a member of the Yellow Army. As it has been, we will continue to uphold and take forward, the spirit of the sport, spirit of the fans and the spirit of Kerala," the statement said.
"The existing 80 per cent Shareholders of KBFC comprising of IQuest, Chiranjeevi and Allu Arvind have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sachin Tendulkar's 20 per cent stake in the club," it added.
"Any other news regarding the shareholding is purely speculative in nature."
For the past two days, a section of the media had speculated that hat UAE billionaire businessman and Keralite M.A. Yusuf Ali has bought Sachin's stake.
Sachin has been the face of the franchise since its first edition in 2014 and it was along with the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, he held a press conference in the state secretariat announcing the name of the club.
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Guwahati (PTI): Blistering fifties by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel powered Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here on Friday.
Sent in to bat, RCB rode on a fighting half-century by skipper Rajat Patidar (63) to post 201 for 8.
Virat Kohli (32), Romario Shepherd (22) and Venkatesh Iyer (29) also chipped in with useful contributions.
In reply, Sooryavanshi (78 off 26 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (81 not out off 43 balls) shared a 37-ball 108-run partnership for the second wicket to set the platform. Krunal Pandya (2/30) tried to bring them back with back-to-back wickets.
But Jurel, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja (24), completed the task with another 68-run stand, with two overs to spare.
For RR, Jofra Archer (2/33), Ravi Bishnoi (2/32) and Brijesh Sharma (2/37) took two wickets.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 63; Jofra Archer 2/33, Ravi Bishnoi 2/32, Brijesh Sharma 2/37).
Rajasthan Royals: 202 for 4 in 18 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Dhruv Jurel 80 not out; Krunal Pandya 2/30, Josh Hazlewood 2/44).
