Not SA20 or BBL: The Hundred identified as IPL's biggest competitor by London Spirit co-owner
Published - 07 Aug 2025, 04:15 PM
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A top Silicon Valley tech group has big plans for English cricket. Nikesh Arora, who is the CEO of cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks, believes that The Hundred could grow into a "multi-billion dollar" brand and could be a big rival to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
His group, called Cricket Investor Holdings Limited, which is popularly known as the 'Tech Titans’, recently bought a 49% stake in the London Spirit team for £144 million (around $193 million) in The Hundred. As part of the deal, Arora has now joined the board of London Spirit.
London Spirit co-owner sees billion-dollar future in The Hundred
The team will be co-managed by the Tech Titans and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). This week, the consortium members were invited to Lord’s Cricket Ground, where they met with the team and enjoyed VIP treatment.
The group has grown since beating out strong competition, including a bid from Sanjiv Goenka's RPSG Group, in a virtual auction held earlier this year. Around 15 of the group’s members came to watch the opening day of The Hundred 2025, where London Spirit’s women’s team thrashed Oval Invincibles, but the men’s team suffered a six-wicket defeat against Oval Invincibles.
Recently, the investors watched the match from a private suite in the Edrich Stand. The event even brought together big names—including the CEOs of Adobe, Google, and YouTube. Satyan Gajwani, vice-chairman of Times Internet, joked that even the World Economic Forum couldn’t gather them.
Tech Titans want The Hundred to rival IPL
Earlier this year, all eight teams in The Hundred tournament were sold at about £975 million (around $1.3 billion). So far, six of those teams have been officially sold. Two more deals are expected soon, and Cain International is likely to buy a stake in the Trent Rockets, while Reliance Industries is expected to invest in the Oval Invincibles.
Spent an incredible few days with the London Spirit ownership group at @HomeOfCricket. It's an unparalleled group that's going to take London Spirit to greater heights in @thehundred pic.twitter.com/PCfvvpZ8Hn
— Satyan Gajwani (@satyan) August 6, 2025
However, the deals will only be sealed after the ongoing season ends. Arora believes that having all eight new investors join at once will help take The Hundred to the next level. He thinks this move could help turn the tournament into one of the biggest and most successful cricket leagues in the world, just like the IPL.
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I don't think the Hundred is a bad product: Nikesh Arora
Nikesh Arora was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo: “The IPL started from nowhere and became a multi-billion dollar product. Why couldn't this be that product? It's not just us; there are eight new shareholders, give or take, across eight new franchises. They all have successful businesses or cricket operations somewhere in the world.”
Arora further added, “If that energy, that passion, that creativity, and that innovation are brought to this, imagine what they could do? The ECB incubated it, which is great. But I'm sure there are ways to optimize things a bit better. I don't think the Hundred is a bad product… It's about creating the excitement around it.”
Notably, the Tech Titans group has 3 out of the 7 seats on the new London Spirit board. These seats are held by Nikesh Arora, Satyan Gajwani, and Egon Durban, who is the co-CEO of the investment company Silver Lake.
The other four board members are Robert Lawson (the MCC chief executive), Julian Metherell (soon to join the MCC committee), Eoin Morgan (the new head of cricket), and one more person who will be chosen by the MCC. Julian Metherell will lead the board as chair.
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