Mumbai Indians Rebrands Oval Invincibles as MI London
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- Reliance Industries Limited, chaired by Mukesh Ambani, bought a 49% stake in Oval Invincibles for about £60m in January 2025 — among the first team sales in The Hundred.
- The franchise was rebranded from Oval Invincibles to MI London, aligning it with the MI stable that includes MI Cape Town, MI Emirates, and MI New York.
- MI London are valued at about £120m, making them the second-most valuable Hundred franchise behind London Spirit (~£300m).
- Kieron Pollard replaced Tom Moody as men's head coach, Sam Curran took over from Sam Billings as captain, and Mitchell McClenaghan joined as bowling coach from the MI network.
- Surrey chief executive Steve Elworthy said the partnership hasn't required revisiting the contract once, with training kit still carrying Invincibles colours to preserve identity.
- MI London plan to take operational functions currently run by the ECB — including ticketing — in-house from 2027, and build the brand into a year-round operation rather than a summer-only competition.
- The men's team sits second in the Hundred table after five matches, continuing a run of five titles across men's and women's competitions since the tournament's inception.
Why it matters: The Ambani cricket empire's English entry is unusual: MI sole-own all their other global franchises but here operate as a 49% minority partner, with Surrey calling the operational shots. That hybrid structure, combined with the ECB's plans to hand ticketing and other functions in-house by 2027, turns MI London into a live test of whether a global brand can scale The Hundred beyond its current August window.
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