After making his debut for India in 2000, Yuvraj Singh smashed his maiden century (102* from 85 balls) against Bangladesh at Dhaka on 11 April 2003. Singh could never have imagined some two decades later his bat would earn him massive royalties year on year. But that’s exactly what’s happening as the power of block-chain technology enables non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to generate exponential wealth for one of cricket’s great legends.
You might be wondering how? What the heck we are talking about? Read on to learn more about your favorite cricketer and his bank of NFT’s.
In an unprecedented stunt, Singh sent his prized bat on a journey into space. Connected to a hot air balloon, the autographed bat was launched from Sheffield in the UK and sent into orbit. As it ascended, a live video of the bat was streamed along with footage of Singh talking to his fans.
https://twitter.com/Sunainagosh7/status/1474696760798760964
An NFT company called Colexion.IO was behind the stunt after partnering with Yuvraj Singh to launch his NFT collection. The first NFT of Yuvraj, which contains a 3-D version of him along with his first-century cricket bat, went live on Christmas day.
The partnership also reportedly includes a dedicated online NFT museum for Singh fans to congregate and connect with the illustrious cricketer’s world. Here fans can buy the NFT along with a limited edition copy of the illustrious bat directly from its website.
This marks Yuvraj Singh’s debut into the world of blockchain after retiring from all formats of the sport.
Cricket which is worshiped like a religion in India, and fans that follow their favorite super stars will do anything to connect with them. Thus, the idea was born. And now these cricket heroes from all over the globe are offering their memories, their irreplaceable and unique achievements, directly to fans in this novel digital format known as NFTs.
The online gaming market is already a billion-dollar business in the world of Cricket and cricketers are well aware of how much their bats and merchandise matter when playing a game. Fans experience an incredible feeling and unique connection in being afforded the chance to own a piece of sporting history. Better still, NFTs also offer these fans the chance to profit from their love of the game and its heroes. That’s because the owner of the digital rights to an NFT knows they can earn exponential sums if a not yet popular NFT becomes a collectible.
Indeed, many believe these sporting superhero NFTs will become very big business allowing fans to earn huge sums of money as they become increasingly popular and tradable.
Is this really a wise investment or akin to fantasy cricket?
The million-dollar question is whether people should really take early advantage by investing before it is too late? Or is it too good to be true?
Many worry they’ll miss the bus and live to regret it. Indeed, this has already happened with many tokens which were later listed in major crypto exchanges, having gained popularity in their early innings as an NFT.
At the end of the day, much is speculative and unknown. But the answer to the question lies in the uniqueness of the NFT and who it represents. Some relative unknowns could become household names in the future, while others will be overlooked and quickly forgotten.
One should really dig deeper and assess the value the NFT is creating.
Speculative investments have a low chance of success. Furthermore, unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, which are divisible into smaller units, NFTs are sold as whole entities.
Of course, achieving astronomical valuations is not unheard of and is why NFTs have so rapidly risen to prominence. The Merge by Pak sold for $91.8 million. And in the cricket arena there are endless numbers of examples by the great cricketers that have already been (or certainly could be) digitalized in the in the form of NFTs too.
List of the top cricketers who are investing into NFT’s
Many world-famous cricketers have already begun grabbing a piece of the action.
In December Rohit Sharma announced an NFT collection on FanCraze. The collection is inspired by memorabilia like the ICC Golden Bat from the 2019 ICC World Cup that Sharma won, and the ball Sharma used to pick his first IPL hat-trick for Deccan Chargers in 2009 against Mumbai Indians.
Wicket Keeper and batsman Dinesh Karthik has turned his last-ball six against Bangladesh during the Nidahas T20 series into an NFT and said in one of his comments,
“I was keen on getting my emotion out there in the artwork. I wanted to encapsulate the moment and take the fan through what it must feel like for a cricketer, as the bowler stands at the top of his mark,”
“I wanted everybody who has the opportunity to look at this NFT, to feel those moments.”
Rario, the world’s first officially licensed cricket digital collectibles platform, which enables people to buy and trade NFTs of cricketers, roped in wicket keeper and batting sensation Rishabh Pant.
Additionally, Singapore-based blockchain platform Cricket Foundation, announced an NFT platform dedicated to cricket. The platform is supported by cricketers V.V.S. Laxman, Parthiv Patel, Wasim Akram, R.P. Singh, Piyush Chawla, Deep Dasgupta, Pragyan Ojha, Lance Klusener and others.
Jhulan Goswami, former captain of India national women’s cricket team, announced to step into the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with the Dubai-based CricFlix, in association with RevSportz and Fanatic Sports.
Former Indian cricket team captain and commentator, Sunil Gavaskar started his non-fungible tokens (NFT) collection on November 15 last year, which went live on November 21 and was rolled out by alwaysfirst.io.
Furthermore, former cricketers Wasim Akram, VVS Laxman, and Lance Klusener are among the 120 partners from the cricket fraternity who had signed up for CricketCrazy.io, a blockchain-based platform that was co-founded by Parthiv Patel, an NFT marketplace exclusive for cricket.
Every cricket fan’s dream of owning part or memorabilia of their idols have been now made easier and accessible through the arrival of NFTs. As technology continues to make inroads into the cricketing world, the emergence of NFTs give us another chance to be closer to our idols.