Emirates Premier League is set to witness its debut season next year in January. The franchise cricket league will be conducted by Emirates Cricket Board and will take place in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Six franchises will compete during the tournament, set to take place during January- February next year.

UAE is not a big cricket-playing nation. However, being a headquarter of ICC, UAE is a crucial venue for world cricket. Moreover, it has also served as the home ground of Pakistan for a lot of years in the previous decade. During the covid-19, two IPL tournaments i.e. IPL 2020 and IPL 2021 took place in UAE. With a lot of foreigners living in the country, the country also has a good fan following for cricket within its region.

Some big corporations are part going to be part of the Emirates Premier League. Glazer family- the owners of football club Manchester United, Shahrukh Khan- Bollywood actor and IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders owner, Mumbai Indians franchise, Kiran Kumar Grandhi- co-owner of IPL team Delhi Capitals, and Big Bash League club Sydney Sixers are some corporations who will have a stake in the franchises of Emirates Premier League.

Glazer family failed to win a bid for an IPL franchise recently. The Manchester United owners showed an interest in the bidding process for two new IPL franchises for the 2022 season, however, they remained short of thousand of crores to win the bid. However, this has not stopped them from venturing into the game of cricket. They are all set to have their stakes in the franchises of the Emirates Premier League.

Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians franchise have also shown interest in investing in the UAE’s T20I league. Big Bash League club Sydney Sixes is another franchise that has similar interests. Delhi Capitals co-owner Kiran Kumar Grandhi is going to invest in the league from an individual perspective. Delhi Capital’s other co-owner Parth Jindal will not be part of this league.

Talking about Shahrukh Khan, Dubai has been like a second home for him and he also enjoys massive popularity among the people of UAE. He already owns two cricket teams- Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL and Trinbago Knight Riders in CPL.

“January’s a great time to play cricket in the UAE. The destination caters to multiple time zones, especially in the west. It suits prime-time in the Indian sub-continent very well, as we’ve seen during the last two IPLs and the recent T20 World Cup that were played there,” industry executives tracking developments of Emirates Premier League said.

Source: cricketaddictor.com

BDST: 1338 HRS, NOV 20, 2021 
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