The Knight Riders group, who own Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has acquired their fourth team in T20 franchise cricket and it will be based out of Abu Dhabi in the upcoming UAE T20 league.
The Shah Rukh Khan co-owned group is overall the fifth Indian to acquire a franchise in the UAE T20 League. The other owners of the high-profile competition are Mukesh Ambani of RIL, Gautam Adani of the Adani Group, the Glazer family of Manchester United, Kiran Kumar Granthi of Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rajesh Sharma of Capri Global.
“Over the last decade, the Knight Riders Group has become a household name in T20 cricket. After establishing Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2008 in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Knight Riders became owners of the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in 2015,” the Knight Riders said in their official statement.
Expressing his delight over the acquisition of a new team, Shah Rukh said: “For several years now, we have been expanding the Knight Riders brand globally and closely watching the potential for T20 cricket in the UAE. We are excited about becoming part of UAE’s T20 League, which no doubt will become hugely successful.”
After this announcement, all franchises are now on board for the six-team league which is likely to be played in January next year.
