IPL franchise owners buy all six teams in South Africa’s upcoming T20 tournament

Owners of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have rocked the charts in the bidding event of the upcoming South Africa’s T20 tournament, buying all six teams in the league, which is scheduled to begin in January 2023.

Notably, Cricket South Africa (CSA) is expected to make a formal announcement of the new owners and the cities they will represent. Meanwhile, the board has announced that former Proteas captain Graeme Smith will be head of the T20 competition.

As per ESPNcricinfo, Mumbai Indians (MI), Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Rajasthan Royals (RR) and one of the owners of Delhi Capitals (DC) have successfully bid for the teams.

While CSK made the highest bid to buy the Johannesburg franchise, MI, owned by Reliance Industries, bought the Cape Town side. Similarly, the Sun TV Group, which owns Sunrisers, bought the Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) franchise.

Durban team has been acquired by The RP Sanjeev Goenka group, who bought the Lucknow IPL franchise last year. Likewise, Rajasthan bought the Paarl team, and Pretoria has been taken by Jindal South West Sports, which is headed by Parth Jindal, co-owner of the DC in IPL.

“I’m extremely honoured to be entrusted with leading this exciting new venture. I’m deeply committed to South African cricket and happy to serve the game as best I can. I’m excited by the opportunity to deliver the new league, which I believe will be an extremely competitive product, one that can bring the much-needed investment into the game and provide new opportunities for players around the world and, more importantly, to our SA homegrown talent,” said Smith in a statement.

“The response from stakeholders has been very positive thus far, and we’ve made great progress in the initial stages. We’re determined to deliver a valuable, sustainable and appealing tournament for South African cricket,” he added.