DUBAI: T10 League founder and chairman Shaji ul Mulk has announced that the recently concluded cricket competition’s title sponsors Ghalia Group will be its new promoter and chief patron, IANS reports.
The tournament took place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with Northern Warriors emerging as champions of the second season. Ghalia Group is a conglomerate based out of the country as well with ventures in oil and gas, aviation, information technology and financial technology sectors and it will continue to associate itself with such strategic initiatives.
“We are delighted to support the ICC T10 Cricket League, supported by the Emirates Cricket Board, and share the same vision as the promoters of the T10 League,” Ghalia Group chairman and director Zahid Hussein was quoted as saying to IANS.
“As a UAE home-grown business, we feel privileged to partake in such an international tournament where we would mutually benefit from the media exposure as we foray into the aviation business in India and at the same time contribute to development of sports and other areas in UAE.
“With our latest acquisition of Air Deccan and Air Odisha, Ghalia Group looks forward to focus on downstream trading activities with primary focus on oil and energy, aviation and technology sectors. We will continue to extend our support to initiatives like ICC T10 League which do provide us with the perfect platform to reach out to our consumers.” Hussein added.
The company plans to invest $10 million as well as restructure the two Indian airline companies, following its recent acquisition of the two airlines to consolidate its position as low cost domestic air carrier. It is also involved in setting up an ambitious $2 billion aerocity in Andhra Pradesh.
“The UAE’s private sector organisations have been showing strong support to the T10 League — a major sporting asset — which will go a long way in further popularising the ten-over cricket format. I am pleased to welcome Ghalia Group to the T10 League.” Mulk commented.
“Ghalia Group, which is on a massive expansion drive including their ambitious plans for the aviation business in India will continue to support promising initiatives like T10 Cricket League that help not just to promote Sports but also add value to the imagery and brand value of the Ghalia Group.”
With his partnership, the future of the T10 League has received a massive boost following the exit of Pakistan’s ARY Group founder and CEO Salman Iqbal as President of the tournament earlier this year, who had a substantial stake in it.
Mulk also announced recently that the tournament has plans to hold a ‘T10 World Cup’, a first-of-its-kind in the new format of cricket and believes that the T10 League is crucial for the sport featuring in the Olympics in the future. He confirmed that the third season of the competition will take place in October 2019 in the UAE itself with the same eight teams that played this year.
“The T10 is a unique league. Now the world is talking about what T10 is all about. The players loved it. And yes, for us looking ahead, I will be not be surprised if there is a T10 World Cup in future and if T10 becomes an Olympic event,” Mulk was quoted as saying to UAE news agency Khaleej Times.
“Now we have also announced the Season 3 for the next year which will be in October. The tentative dates are October 16 to 25. But we could be flexible by a few days here and there. We look forward to a much bigger tournament next year.
“Also, we are happy with the eight-team format. Maybe after two-three years, we will reevaluate if we need extra teams.
“The UAE will be the fixed venue for this tournament. Yes, we are planning to take T10 to other countries as well. But that would be a different property,” he signed off.
