Reliance Industries confirms acquiring a franchise in Cricket South Africa’s upcoming T20 league

Reliance Industries on Wednesday confirmed acquiring a franchise in Cricket South Africa’s upcoming T20 league.

In a media release by the multinational conglomerate, the company said, "Strengthening its growing international footprint in cricket, Reliance Industries today announced that it will acquire a franchise in Cricket South Africa’s upcoming T20 league."

Reliance Industries which owns the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) further added that the new franchise in the South Africa T20 league will be based out of Cape Town.

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The new franchise in South Africa comes close on the heels of acquiring another franchise in the UAE-based International League T-20 team.

The move to own teams in the upcoming T20 leagues in South Africa and in the UAE will strengthen Reliance Industries' position. In April, Forbes had ranked Mukesh Ambani, the chairman, and managing director of Reliance Industries as the world's second richest sports owner.

Commenting on the move Nita Ambani the Director of Reliance Industries said, "I’m delighted to welcome our new T20 team to the Reliance family! We are excited to take the Mumbai Indians’ brand of fearless and entertaining cricket to South Africa, a nation that loves cricket as much as we do in India! South Africa has a strong sporting ecosystem, and we look forward to exploring the power and potential of this collaboration. As we grow MI's global cricketing footprint, we remain committed to spreading joy and cheer through sport!"

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Akash Ambani, the son of Mukesh and Nita Ambani, and the  Chairman of Reliance Jio also expressed his delight and said, "With our South African franchise, we now have three T20 teams across three countries. We look forward to leveraging our  expertise and depth of knowledge in the cricket ecosystem & brand Mumbai Indians to help  build the team and provide fans with some of the best cricketing experiences.”