Shah Rukh Khan's Knight Riders acquires franchise in UAE’s T20 League

Shah Rukh Khan

The Knight Riders Group (KRG), which owns the Kolkata Knight Riders team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), will now operate a franchise in the UAE T20 League.

KRG, which is is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and her spouse Jay Mehta, will operate the Abu Dhabi franchise and will set up Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (ADKR).

The investment in the Abu Dhabi franchise will establish the Knight Riders Group's fourth T20 franchise around the world including leagues like IPL, Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Major League Cricket (MLC) and UAE T20 League.

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 CPL in 2015. Recently, the Knight Riders Group made a significant investment in MLC in the USA and intends to set up a franchise in the greater Los Angeles area.

"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," said Shah Rukh Khan.
UAE’s T20 League is a franchise-based T20 format cricket tournament with six franchise teams competing in a 34-match event. Firms including Reliance Industries Limited, Lancer Capital, the GMR Group, Capri Global and Knight Riders have acquired a team each in UAE’s T20 League.

Recently, Adani Sportsline, a part of the Adani Group, made a foray into franchise cricket by acquiring the rights to own and operate a franchise in UAE T20 League.

Making entry into UAE T20 League, Pranav Adani had said that presence in the tournament will be a great base for the Adani brand that is contributing to the sports ecosystem in India through leagues such as boxing and kabaddi.