Bollywood to Hollywood: Knight Riders in US T20 league

THE KNIGHT Riders Group, majority owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has agreed to partner with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a major long-term investment in US cricket.

A joint media release by Major League Cricket and Knight Riders said, “The long-term strategic partnership will include financial investment and significant expertise to help ACE develop and launch Major League Cricket in the USA. As one of the most successful brands in T20 cricket globally, the Knight Riders are excited about the potential for professional T20 cricket in the United States.”

Khan added, "For several years now, we have been expanding the Knight Riders brand globally and closely watching the potential for T20 cricket in the USA. We are convinced that Major League Cricket has all the pieces in place to execute on its plans and we look forward to making our partnership an enormous success in the coming years.”

Unsurprisingly, the Knight Riders Group's latest franchise will be in Hollywood – the Los Angeles Knight Riders.

The release said the Knight Riders brand has the winning formula. The group owns the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) which plays in the Indian Premier League and the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the Hero Caribbean Premier League. The teams have won multiple titles over the last decade.

“The Kolkata Knight Riders are two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions (2012, 2014) and one of the most popular sports franchises in the world. Following their 2014 IPL championship, the Knight Riders became owners of the TT T20 franchise in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in 2015. Since then, the Trinbago Knight Riders have gone on to win the CPL championship four times in the last six seasons, including a record-setting unbeaten championship season in 2020.”

Popular US player Ali Khan has represented the Knight Riders in the CPL for the last three years and was signed by KKR for the 2020 IPL.