New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who presently owns a T20 franchise in the India as well as in West Indies, has now bought a team in South Africa's T20 Global League.


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The actor was reportedly approached by Cricket South Africa management, as the organisers looked to cash in on the popularity of someone who already owns two franchsies in different leagues - Kolkata Knight Riders at the Indian Premier League and Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League - while also hope to bring in some Indian viewership.


Cricket South Africa today announced the host cities and owners of the eight teams ahead of the player draft on August 19.


"On behalf of all of us from Knight Riders, congratulations to Cricket South Africa for the launch of exciting new T20 Global League. We are delighted and thankful that you have made Knight Riders part of the new Global League. South Africa is a beautiful country with beautiful people and I really look forward to be part of the exciting new journey and building something special together. We are particularly thrilled to make Cape Town and Newlands our new home away from home," said Shah Rukh Khan.


Other than SRK, the Indian owners included the GMR Group, who also own the Delhi Daredevils franchise.
 
The competition, hoping to emulate the success of competitions such as the IPL and Australia's Big Bash, is set to start in November, with the final to be played on December 16.


"We are certain that our final eight owners have the perfect combination of strategic insight and passion needed to make the first T20 Global League a complete success," said Cricket South Africa president Chris Nenzani said.


Teams will be hosted in eight centres around South Africa – Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, Stellenbosch and Benoni. 


Here's the complete list of owners along with franchise's marquee players:-


  • Durban – Fawad Rana, Hashim Amla
  • Benoni – Javed Afridi, Quinton de Kock
  • Pretoria – Osman Osman (SA), AB de Villiers
  • Stellenbosch – Mustag Brey (SA), Faf du Plessis
  • Cape Town – Shah Rukh Khan, JP Duminy
  • Bloemfontein – Sushil Kumar, David Miller
  • Johannesburg – GMR Group. Kagiso Rabada
  • Port Elizabeth – Ajay Sethi, Imran Tahir

Marquee players already signed up include former England batsman Kevin Pietersen, current England limited overs players Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy, and ex-internationals Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) and Chris Gayle (West Indies). 


Almost 400 players from 10 countries have confirmed their interest in being part of the draft.


(With Reuters inputs)