SRK, GMR to own teams in South Africa’s T20 league THE LINE-UP

Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils will now have cousins in South Africa.

Shah Rukh Khan, who co-owns KKR in the Indian Premier League, will also own the team from Cape Town in the recently launched T20 Global League of Cricket South Africa (CSA). GMR, the owner of Delhi Daredevils in the IPL, will promote the team from Johannesburg.

Eight teams will play each other in November this year; the final is scheduled for December 16. International team owners are from India, Pakistan and Dubai.

The announcement was made in London on Monday. The names of marquee players, all from the South African national team, have also been allowed. Cape Town Knight Riders, SRK’s team, will have J P Duminy. Kagiso Rabada will be the marquee player in GMR’s team. “Competition was stiff, with more than 150 expressions of interest (EOI) from around the world and a shortlist of heavy hitters to consider, but after rigorous discussions and engagement with each of the potential owners, we are certain that our final eight have the perfect combination of strategic insight and passion needed to make the first T20 Global League a complete success,” said CSA President Chris Nenzani. EY conducted the selection process for team owners to ensure integrity, compliance and Owner Shah Rukh Khan (India) Fawad Rana (Qatar) GMR Group (India) Javed Afridi (Pakistan) Osman Osman (South Africa) Ajay Sethi (Dubai) Mustaq Brey (South Africa) Sushil Kumar (Hong Kong) Host city

Cape Town

Pretoria

Port Elizabeth

Stellenbosch Bloemfontein due diligence.

Shah Rukh Khan said he was thrilled to have the Cape Town team. “I really look forward to be part of the exciting new journey and building something special together. We are particularly thrilled to make Cape Town… our new home South African marquee player

JP Duminy Hashim Amla

away from home.”

KKR Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Venky Mysore said, “We want to grow the Knight Riders brand globally, and acquiring a team in T20 Global league is a step in that direction.”

The eight South African marquee players have been assigned to a team on the basis of the city they have historically been associated with or a city they will be able to build a strong association with.

Alongside the Proteas players, eight international marquee players have also been announced.

International marquee players include Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Chris Gayle (West Indies), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, and Jason Roy (England). These cricketers have not been allotted to the teams as of now.

It is not yet known if Indian players would take part in the tournament — CSA and BCCI are in talks over this.

Players will be selected on 19 August, with almost 400 from 10 countries confirming their interest.