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K Srikkanth takes guard for new biz venture

Tanmaya Kumar Nanda in New York

Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the original Indian 'master blaster' who often struck terror into the hearts of the opposition and brought cheer to the heart of many an Indian cricket fan, is well into his second innings -- business.

Srikkanth, who was also a guest at the India Day Parade, revealed his plans for a new business venture at a press conference organised by the Pentamedia, which has offices in Madras, New Jersey and Los Angeles, on August 20 at the Dosa Hut restaurant in Manhattan, New York.

The formidable opening batsman of yesteryears has now tied up with numtv.com for a new channel on the Web site dedicated wholly to him. Called the Champ channel, the new feature on the Web site will feature Srikkanth in an advisory role for all cricket enthusiasts across the United States.

"There is a huge amount of variety on the site, and the channel is a value proposition for viewers," said Srikkanth. In his latest position, Srikkanth will field questions from cricketers in the US regarding technique and tips as well.

"They can write to me saying what they feel their problem is, what they need to work on in their game," he said. "In return, I will demonstrate the particular action live, which will be Web-cast so they can replicate it."

Besides, the Champ channel will also have other features such as Cricket Fundas, which will be a two-minute capsule of some of the greatest moments in cricketing history, Web-cast live.

"All I can say that the content will be as unorthodox as my batting," laughed Srikkanth. "It will be innovative and interactive."

Currently, though, the site is looking for tie-ups for promotions. The site is a subsidiary of the Pentamedia group, revealed G V Babu, chief operating officer of the company.

However, the accounts for numtv.com have been kept separately, he said, and are audited accordingly. "We have processed everything, and are ready to go public with an IPO," he said, adding that they were only waiting for "the market to turn around."

Over $12 million has already been invested in numtv.com, he revealed, and all of it is "internal funding."

"We will also introduce more innovative programs at a later stage, may be even a KBC type of quiz show on cricket, we want to reach everything to the masses" said Srikkanth.

"We will also provide live commentary and analysis on cricket matches from around the world, and viewers can call in and ask me, and my fellow experts who will be ex-cricketers, whatever they want to know about the match, even how I think the match is going to turn out."

In this, he said, his experience as a TV anchor would come in handy.

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