Oval Invincibles will probably be renamed MI London from subsequent season following funding from the house owners of Indian Premier League aspect Mumbai Indians.
Reliance Industries Restricted bought a 49% stake within the franchise, which has produced 5 title-winning groups in The Hundred, from the England and Wales Cricket Board in January.
The deal price about £60m has now formally been accomplished and the identify change aligns the aspect with 4 different groups below Reliance possession: MI Cape City in South Africa’s SA20, MI Emirates within the United Arab Emirates’ Worldwide League T20, and MI New York in Main League Cricket in america.
Invincibles, who received the ladies’s competitors in 2021 and 2022 and the boys’s match in 2023, 2024 and 2025, are the primary aspect from the MI collective of groups to be renamed, with the remaining franchises based below their present names.
“We’re happy to have reached an settlement with the Reliance group over our partnership within the Hundred franchise group,” mentioned Oli Slipper, the chair of Surrey, who retain 51% possession of the renamed group.
“Reliance deliver a major depth of cricket and enterprise experience and have had nice success with their franchise groups in India and all over the world.
“We’ve labored very carefully with Reliance over the identify of the brand new group and consider that MI London will give us one of the best alternative to construct the fanbase at house and internationally.
“We additionally consider that the group model will assist to develop the business worth of our franchise, in flip boosting funding into the long-term sustainable progress of Surrey and of cricket in our group.”
The transfer comes with The Hundred set to move to an auction format for assigning gamers to franchises.
That swap is more likely to consequence within the breaking apart of a settled squad that received three successive males’s tournaments for Invincibles.
Reliance’s franchises have had a considerable amount of success all over the world, with Mumbai Indians the joint most profitable group in Indian Premier League historical past with 5 titles.
The Mumbai Indians girls’s aspect have received the Ladies’s Premier League title in two of the competitors’s three seasons, whereas MI New York boast the identical report in Main League Cricket.
MI Cape City received the newest version of the SA20, whereas MI Emirates took the title within the 2024 ILT20.
“We’re delighted to welcome MI London into the #OneFamily and take the MI legacy to new frontiers,” mentioned Reliance founder Nita Ambani.
