The clan of Mumbai Indians (Mi), the most successful franchise of IPL, is increasing. The Mumbai Indians franchise, owned by India's richest industrialist Mukesh Ambani's company Reliance, has also bought teams in the league of South Africa, America and UAE besides IPL. Now Mi has spread its scope to England and has bought a large stake in a team there. MI has bought almost half of the England Cricket Board (ECB) franchise league 'The Hundred' team Oval Invinesables and has become the first franchise of the IPL to do so.

Deal for 1327 crores

According to reports, on Thursday 30 January, the ECB started the auction process of Oval Invinesables, in which it is selling 49 percent of its share. According to the report of Cricbuzz, Reliance Industries has bought this 49 per cent of this 49 per cent ie about 123 million pounds i.e. about Rs 1327 crore. Like the Mumbai Indians, Oval is also the most successful franchise in The Hundred, which won the Mains tournament in 2023 and 2024, while in 2021 and 2022 won the Women's Tournament.

ECB selling its share

8 franchisees participate in The Hundred, which are part of different county clubs of the England Cricket Board. The England Board launched the league in 2021 with a 100-100-ball format from T20 in 2021. Since then, 49-49 % share in every team of this league has been from ECB, while the remaining 51 % share has been from the main county club of that franchise. To increase the value of this league and to include private investors like IPL, ECB had decided to sell its share in all 8 franchises, for which the auction process is being started.

Will Mi take full share from all over Surrey?

In this episode, the first auction of the Oval was done, due to which the English board is going to earn tremendous earnings. Under the current model, the 49 % share of ECB in the Oval Invinesables will now be with the Mi, while the 51 percent share is from the Surrey County Cricket Club. That is, now Surrey and MI will run the women and men teams of this franchise. However, ECB has also given a discount that if the county club wants, they can also sell some of their parts. Now whether Surrey sells its share or not, it will be monitored at the moment. But at present, Mi has become the first franchise of IPL to buy the team in The Hundred.