The owner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) outfit Mumbai Indians (MI), Reliance Industries Limited, has acquired The Hundred team, Oval Invincible.
The company won a three-way bidding race in which tech entrepreneurs from the US and CVC Capital, a private equity firm that owns Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL, were also involved.
MI are aiming to extend their worldwide empire after earning a name for themselves in various T20 competitions throughout the world, in addition to the IPL and the Women’s Premier League (WPL). The Reliance Industries-owned franchise had its sights on The Hundred, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) showpiece limited-overs tournament for quite some time and now has 49% ownership in the Oval Invincibles franchise.
The ECB declined to comment, however it is thought that the enterprise value of the Surrey-based South London squad in the 100-ball event is 123 million GBP.
The Hundred would therefore become the fourth non-Indian competition, following the International League T20 (ILT20), SA20, and Major League Cricket (MLC), in which the five-time IPL champions and inaugural WPL champions will be in command of franchises.
Oval Invincibles are the defending Men’s Hundred winners, having won the previous two tournaments. They’ve also won the women’s event twice, in 2021 and 2022.
It was clear that the Ambanis had an eye in one of the London-based teams, the Lord’s-based London Spirit being the other, and they finally settled on the Invincibles. They can own the entire or dominant interest once Surrey County, which owns 51%, divests its portion.