Kolkata Knight Riders have expanded to the U.S. after huge investments in the major cricket league

The King of Bollywood, and the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders and Trinbago Knight Riders, Shahrukh Khan have pledged to invest in a significant U.S. league for long-term.

ACE (American Cricket Enterprises) has announced that the Knight Riders Group, owner of Kolkata Knight Riders and Trinbago Knight Riders has become stakeholders of American cricket as they have pledged a long term investment in a major league. 

Kolkata Knight rider is a franchise in Indian Premier League which has won two titles in IPL so far as of (2012, 2014). Following their win in 2014, KKR has also owned Trinidad and Tobago T20 franchise in CPL (Caribbean Premier League) 2015. Trinidad and Tobago is the most successful team in CPL. It has won 4 out of 6 titles in CPL so far following 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020. In 2020, T.T. has set a record-breaking unbeaten championship season.

The investment is made by Knight Riders Group led by Bollywood star, Shahrukh Khan along with Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta (Owner of Mehta Group). It is a strategic long term investment in the future of cricket in the U.S.

King Khan commented on this long term investment in the U.S.

“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,”

said Shahrukh Khan.

‘We feel fortunate to get recognition in T20 leagues’

The CEO of KKR and Red Chillies Entertainment, Venky Mysore, also gave his views. He said:

“We feel fortunate to have been consistently recognized as one of the best franchises in T20 cricket and have become one of the fastest-growing sports brands in the world.”

“As T20 cricket expands internationally, we are flattered by the regular inbound requests to play a significant role in growing the sport abroad. We have had a keen interest in the developments in the United States, and our expansion into the U.S. is consistent with our long-term strategy.”

“We look forward to the new challenge of building cricket in the world’s most sophisticated sports and media market and we believe that we can bring a huge amount of expertise to help make Major League Cricket realize the potential that it undoubtedly has.”

Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan of ACE (American Cricket Enterprises) and major cricket league gave their views:

“We are delighted to partner with the Knight Riders Group in this historic partnership. By adding the Knight Riders Group to our family of world-class and diverse investors, this investment into the future of Major League Cricket is a huge validation of our vision for the new league, and we are particularly excited to have such an iconic cricketing brand onboard with us.”