The owners of Indian Premier League giants Mumbai Indians have agreed a deal to buy a stake in Oval Invincibles in a landmark moment for English cricket.
Reliance Industries Limited, owned by India’s richest family, the Ambanis, won the right to buy a 49 per cent stake in the Hundred team at a virtual auction on Thursday afternoon.
The Invincibles, who have won four titles in four years across the men’s and women’s tournaments, are the first Hundred team to be partially sold, with similar auctions for the other seven outfits to take place in the coming days.
No formal announcement is expected to be made until the sale process across all eight teams is complete, but it is understood that the RIL bid valued the Invincibles at just north of £120million, meaning they will pay around £60m for their share.
The Mumbai Indians are widely considered the most powerful force in global franchise cricket. As well as teams in the IPL and WIPL, the women’s equivalent, RIL run franchises in South Africa’s SA20, America’s Major League Cricket and the ILT20 in the UAE.
The England & Wales Cricket Board, which launched the Hundred in 2021, is retaining central control of the competition but selling off its teams in order to provide the English cricket with a cash injection it says will “future-proof” the game for the next 20 years.
The body announced last year that the majority 51 per cent share in each team would be gifted back to their respective host counties, who have the right to either hold onto it or sell it, partially or in full.
Surrey, whose home ground is the Oval, have long made clear their intention to retain their 51 per cent controlling stake in the Invincibles and have not budged from that stance.
Money raised the sale of the ECB’s stakes will be split between the first-class counties, the MCC and the recreational game.
The ECB’s stake in London Spirit, the Lord’s based team who are expected to prove the most valuable among the eight, is due to be sold on Friday
