Bollywood actress, Preity Zinta, has been confirmed as the new owner of the Stellenbosch and Paarl based team, the Monarchs, in the inaugural T20 Global League. The announcement was made on early Friday afternoon.
Preity Zinta signing autographs in Durban during the 2009 IPL. PHOTO: Twitter.
The Stellenbosch Monarchs were originally bought by South African based Brimstone Investment Corporation Limited, but the acquisition fell through, which left the Boland team without ownership – until now.
In addition to her new purchase, Zinta already co-owns the Kings XI Punjab, an Indian Premier League team which visited South Africa during the 2009 IPL which was played in the country.
The award winning actress expressed her excitement via Twitter and said that “some things are meant to be”. She also thanked current Cricket South Africa CEO Haroon Lorgat.
Some things are meant to be ! 🏏👍 Super excited to come on board @T20GL_ 🏏 & @SBMonarchs & revisit SA🇿🇦after IPL.Thank U 🙏 @OfficialCSA
— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) September 8, 2017
As of the announcement, all eight teams in the brand new T20 Global League have owners, with the Pretoria Mavericks the only side with South African ownership. The Pretoria team are owned by Blu Blood Entertainment’s Osman Osman.
A full list of the teams, their owners and where their owners are from is as follows:
A number of these owners own teams in other T20 leagues such as the IPL or Pakistan Super League (PSL). Cape Town Knight Riders owner, Shah Rukh Khan, owns two other teams: the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and the Trinbago Knight Riders from the Caribbean Premier League. Khan and is a Bollywood superstar often referred to as “King of Bollywood”
The first ever edition of the T20 Global will begin on Friday 03 November when the Cape Town Knight Riders host the Pretoria Mavericks at Newlands (DHL) stadium.
The Monarchs’ campaign will begin a day later, on Saturday 04 November, when they host the Jo’burg Giants at Boland Park in Paarl at 14:30 pm.– Tom Stapylton-Smith