Manchester Originals will incorporate ‘Super Giants’ into their name for future seasons of The Hundred, billionaire Sanjiv Goenka, whose RPSG Group controls the franchise, tells the BBC.
RPSG paid £80 million ($108m) for a 70% stake in the team based at Old Trafford.
RPSG owns Indian Premier League (IPL) side Lucknow Super Giants and SA20 side Durban Super Giants in South Africa. With that in mind, Manchester Originals will now be brought into line with RPSG’s other franchises.
Goenka told BBC Sport: “You will see a name change, and we will definitely bring in the Super Giants into this.
“That is something that we’re trying to integrate, Super Giants into all our franchises.”
Manchester Originals are the first of the eight privatised Hundred teams to confirm such a change since the ECB invited investment into the teams.
With Originals stars Jos Buttler and Heinrich Klaasen also signed up to his Durban franchise, Goenka revealed that he would like as many players as possible to represent each of his three cricket teams.
“We would definitely want that but with the IPL it’s an auction system and therefore it’s not always the simplest thing to do.
“[However], we would definitely strive towards that because it brings a greater bonding, it brings a greater continuity, it brings a greater understanding.”
When asked by the BBC how he intended to achieve a return on his huge investment, Goenka identified overseas TV rights as potentially “huge”, and said: “When I invested $900m (actually $940m / ₹7,090 crore in 2023) to buy an IPL team, the entire world thought I was mad.
Goenka asserted: “In the space of three and a half years, [it] is probably worth $1.5bn. The IPL is a league like no other but The Hundred… can only grow and we do believe that it will grow hugely.
“It’s about building an emotional connection with not only the sport, but the format and more importantly the team. It doesn’t happen overnight. The IPL has taken 18 years to reach where it is.”
For the record, the IPL is currently reportedly valued at $19bn.
