Multan Sultans owner expresses interest in Hundred investment

LONDON: The Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Multan Sultans co-owner Ali Khan Tareen and IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore have registered their interest in investing in teams in the Hundred, the ECB’s 100-ball competition which is due to start next summer after its recent postponement.

The ECB initially rejected the involvement of private investment when devising its new city-based tournament, but the financial fallout of the Covid-19 crisis - which could cost the English game as much as £380 million (US$470m) - could prompt a softening of that stance.

Chief executive Tom Harrison said last week that the pandemic could force the ECB into “a place where we have to look at some of those opportunities”.

Tareen told ESPNcricinfo that he believes potential investors should have at least some links to the team they want a stake in. Having owned a house in Hampshire for over a decade, Tareen wants to invest in the Southern Brave, if such an opportunity becomes possible.

“I’m a Hampshire boy who loves Hampshire cricket,” he said. “I see it as a way to benefit the counties, so they get more money. If someone with no connections owns a side, they wouldn’t give a hoot about counties. Why would they? Someone like me, who’s an actual Hampshire fan, sees the real attraction of external investment as my opportunity to help Hampshire.”

Tareen, whose Sultans side finished top of the PSL’s group stages thanks to a data-driven strategy before Covid-19 curtailed the season, said that his ties with coaches and backroom staff could help Southern Brave succeed.

“The likes of Andy Flower, Nathan Leamon, Azhar Mahmood, who’ve been involved internationally, perhaps I’d be able to convince them to join up more? That would benefit both the team and the county.”

Meanwhile, Mysore, the CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders’ parent company, said that he had met with two ECB representatives “three or four years ago” while the possibility of private investment was being floated, and had engaged in “some interesting conversations” with Harrison in 2015 when the pair were in Barbados.

Any shift towards involving private investors would require counties’ approval, and there is likely to be a review into the competition’s viability when the ECB’s incoming chairman Ian Watmore begins his tenure.

The ECB decided against such a model in order to maintain control of the new teams but there would likely be no shortage of willing overseas investors. Kings XI Punjab’s owners purchased the St Lucia Zouks in February, while the companies behind PSL teams Peshawar Zalmi and Lahore Qalandars have previously expressed interest in global expansion.