London: South Africa’s T20 Global League will see the participation of two IPL franchises-Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan owned (Kolkata) Knight Riders and Infrastructural company GMR Group owned (Delhi) Daredevils.
The Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday officially announced the successful eight team owners of the T20 league in London.
Durban, Benoni, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth will each host a franchise.
Shah Rukh Khan’s side will be based at Newlands and would be called the Cape Town Knight Riders.
The GMR Group owns the Johannesburg side while in Benoni, Pakistan Super League franchise owner Javed Afridi is the man in charge.
The two South Africa owners are Mustaq Brey (Brimstone) and Osman Osman (Blu Blood), who have taken ownership of the Stellenbosch and Pretoria franchises, respectively.
Businessman Sushil Kumar has bought a franchise in Bloemfontein while Fawad Rana, owner of the PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars, owns Durban.
Cricket superstars AB de Villiers and Kagiso Rabada are among the eight marquee players who have been assigned to the eight franchises of the league.
The other six Proteas stars allocated teams were JP Duminy (Cape Town), Hashim Amla (Durban), Quinton de Kock (Benoni), Imran Tahir (Port Elizabeth), Faf du Plessis (Stellenbosch) and David Miller (Bloemfontein).
The player draft is scheduled for August 19, with almost 400 players from 10 countries confirming their interest.
“The announcement of the team owners is a key milestone to successfully launch our T20 Global League,” commented CSA Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.
“We are thrilled by the international mix of owners and the passion and excitement that was clearly demonstrated during the bidding process by them and the marquee players. It sets up our #T20GL as a fans favorite in the cricketing calendar,” he added.
The competition is slated to start in early November this year and will end on December 16.