Sunrisers Hyderabad in The Hundred, Sun Group Secures 100% Stake in Northern Superchargers

Add as a preferred source on Google

Sunrisers Hyderabad become the third Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise to venture into England's The Hundred competition after the team owners, Sun Group put in the winning bid to buy the Northern Superchargers on Wednesday (February 5).

According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the Sun Group, owned by Kalanithi Maran, has secured 100% stake of the Northern Superchargers, after agreeing to buy out the England Cricket Board's 49 per cent stake and Yorkshire's 51 per cent, making it the first team to be sold outright.

The Superchargers, based out of Yorkshire, finished fourth in both the men's and women's competition last season. The Superchargers will also be the third team owned by the Sun Group, after the Hyderabad franchise and the Sunrisers Eastern Cape franchise in the SA20.

The Sun Group's investment in the ECB-run competition comes a few days after the RPSG Group (owners of Lucknow Super Giants) and Reliance Industries Limited (owners of Mumbai Indians) bought stocks of teams competing in The Hundred.

RPSG Group bought a stake in the Manchester Originals after missing out on London Spirit earlier in the week, while RIL bought 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles during the virtual auction. There could be one more IPL owner investing in The Hundred in the coming days.

As per ESPNcricinfo, GMR Group, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals, are also expected to buy a stake in Southern Brave after securing a deal to buy host county Hampshire last year. If GMR Group are successful with their bid, Southern Brave would become their fourth cricket team after Delhi Capitals in IPL, Dubai Capitals in ILT20 and Pretoria Capitals in SA20.

Meanwhile, Cricket Investor Holdings Limited (a Silicon Valley tech consortium spearheaded by Nikesh Arora) bought a stake at London Spirit. Plus, tech entrepreneur and Washington Freedom owner Sanjay Govil bought a stake at Welsh Fire, and Knighthead Capital bought a stake at Birmingham Phoenix.