The Adani Group is all set to land a cricket franchise. The Ahmedabad-based business house, which unsuccessfully bid for a team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in October, is close to signing up for a side in the Twenty20 league which will be run by Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) in UAE. According to a report, ECB has almost sealed a deal with Adani Group for a team in forthcoming UAE T20 League. The league already has biggest of the marquee names on the board as owners of teams. Mukesh Ambani of Reliance, Shah Rukh Khan of Bollywood, Kiran Kumar Granthi of GMR and the Glazer family that owns EPL club Manchester United all have acquired teams in the much hyped league. The sixth member of this six-team league is a certain Rajesh Sharma, who owns the Dubai-based Capri Global company.
The ECB, earlier, had negotiated with quite a few parties, including Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings of the IPL for the sixth team. They were also in talks with the Lancashire County Cricket Club in England as well as the Sydney Sixers team in the Big Bash League. According to a report by Cricbuzz, Gautam Adani promoted group will soon officially join the league. The officials in Adani Group confirmed the signings to the publication. According to the report, the agreements between the parties will be signed by the next week & official announucements will be made thereafter.The league also has signed a multi-million dollar deal with ZEE Group as official broadcaster for the venture.As per the initial planning, the league was to take place in January-February, however, amid third Covid wave, the league organizers had to again postpone thier plans to launch the much hyped project.Accoridng to the sources, currently, the ECB is exploring a window right after the IPL 2022 for the 1st season of UAE T20 League. The window in June-July is likely to be finalized but the questions remain over the availability of the players.
