PSL owners snap up two South Africa franchises

Pakistan Super League (PCL) owners have purchased two out of eight franchises in South Africa's T20 Global League. The owners, the cities and their marquee players were unveiled at an event in London on Monday.

Two PSL owners, Fawad Rana of the Lahore Qalandars, and Javed Afridi from the Peshawar Zalmi, bought franchises in Durban and Benoni respectively.

While the rest of six franchises (Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth) were bought by two South African businessmen, two IPL franchises and representatives from Hong Kong and Dubai.

International buyers own three-quarters of the franchises with the biggest name being Shah Rukh Khan. The Bollywood superstar added to his Knight Riders brand with the purchase of the Cape Town franchise to add to teams in Kolkata and Trinidad. There was also a second IPL influence. The Delhi Daredevils' holding company GMR sports bought the Johannesburg franchise.

The two South African-owned franchises are based in Pretoria and Stellenbosch and run by South African businessman Osman Osman, who owns a lifestyle brand, and Brimstone, a company owned by Mushtaq Brey.

The Bloemfontein franchise was bought by Hong Kong's Sushil Kumar and the Port Elizabeth team by Dubai's Ajay Sethi.

Both have previous involvement in cricket, Kumar owns a Hong Kong franchise while Sethi is involved at Channel 2 in the UAE.

CSA also unveiled eight ambassadors, all former South African national players: Graeme Smith, Andrew Hall, Ashwell Prince, Herschelle Gibbs, Paul Adams, Allan Donald, Andrew Hudson and Paul Harris.

More than 400 players have registered their interest with a draft scheduled for August.