MUMBAI: The owners of Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders have confirmed interest to investing in The Hundred, ECB’s unique 100-ball tournament, if the competition turns towards private investment next year.
KKR CEO Venky Mysore told UK’s The Telegraph on Tuesday that they would surely be keen to “explore” investment opportunities in The Hundred.
According to the report in Telegraph Sport, Mysore has expressed interest in potentially investing in the UK-based competition, iterating their plans of seeking opportunities to “invest in cricket globally.”
Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd, the holding company that owns and operates KKR and boasts Hindi film superstar Shahrukh Khan as principal owner, also owns Trinbago Knight Riders, the Caribbean Premier League based out of Port of Spain. The Trinbago Knight Riders is a winner of successive CPL titles in 2017 and 2018.
KKR had also acquired a third team, the Cape Town franchise in Cricket South Africa’s Global T20 League which however, did not see the light of the day and was cancelled in 2017.
“We are the biggest brand in IPL and perhaps the only global brand in cricket. So we can understand why leagues around the world would be interested in getting Knight Riders on board,” Mysore told PTI.
The inaugural season of The Hundred, originally slated to begin this July, has been pushed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The tournament, is currently wholly owned by the England and Wales Cricket Board, but given the financial losses incurred due to the ongoing suspension of cricket, it could force the ECB to consider private investment.
The Hundred was slated for a July start but the ECB was forced to push it back to 2021 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, the postponement of the new format league will result in a loss of over £300 million.
