Reliance Industries confirm acquisition of new franchise in new Cricket South Africa's T20 league

Cricket in South Africa is expanding with a new T20 league. Meanwhile, Reliance Industries, which owns Mumbai Indians, has confirmed the acquisition of a franchise in the tournament.

Cricket is set to take a new shape in South Africa soon. From January, Cricket South Africa (CSA) will be introducing a brand new domestic Twenty20 (T20) franchise-based tournament, which is set to take the nation and its cricketing fans by storm. CSA had invited tenders to bid for the six participating teams, which have all reportedly been acquired by the franchises that own teams in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL). In the same light, Reliance Industries, which owns record five-time former IPL champion Mumbai Indians (MI), has also acquired a team in South Africa's new T20 competition. At the same time, it is supposedly expected to be the Cape Town franchise.

Confirming its acquisition, Nita Ambani (Director of Reliance Industries) mentioned in a media release, "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!"

At the same time, Akash Ambani (Chairman of Reliance Industries) added, "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."