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Paul McNamara

The co-owners of an Indian Premier League (IPL) powerhouse have joined forces with Hong Kong cricket chiefs in a bid to convert the city’s unique Sixes tournament into a global phenomenon.
Boasting an ownership portfolio that includes Pretoria Capitals, Bengaluru FC and Pro Kabbadi League team Haryana Steelers, alongside the IPL’s Delhi Capitals, JSW Sports on Wednesday signed a deal to serve as the commercial partner of the Hong Kong Sixes.
After being mothballed for seven years, the Sixes made a triumphant return in 2024, then over three days last year drew more than 10,000 fans to its Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground home.
While both parties sounded their intention to take this year’s edition “to new heights”, the overarching goal is to create a worldwide Sixes circuit that features up to six stops.
“Our vision is to build this into a much bigger format, and to go global with it,” Cricket Hong Kong, China [CHKC] board member Anurag Bhatnagar said.
“To do that, we need strategic partners, people who have the bandwidth, and the expertise and finance, to help us.”

Bhatnagar said the plan was to add one overseas Sixes tournament next year, then continue to grow at the same pace going forwards.
The proposed 2027 event would probably be staged in Asia, potentially in the Middle East, before the Sixes branches out to Africa and Europe. Bhatnagar said mainland China was another likely host.
“The idea is to scale it up with one additional venue every year for the next five years, and at the end of it we should have a global series, comprising five to six events, hosted in different regions of the world,” Bhatnagar said.
“We’ve spoken to other boards and received absolute enthusiasm. I think we can quite easily lock in the next three venues whenever we’re ready.”
JSW Sports also looks after the commercial rights of a number of leading Indian athletes, including international all-rounder Axar Patel, and in 2018 it established the Inspire Institute of Sport, India’s first privately-funded high-performance Olympic training centre.
Divyanshu Singh, the JSW Sports CEO, said his company was “at a juncture where we feel it’s a good time to transition from franchise ownership to IP [intellectual property] ownership and IP partnerships”.
“[The Sixes] is a very exciting property, which has been growing,” Singh said. “Also, cricket in international formats attracts fandom that is unparalleled compared to franchise cricket.
“This year, we want to create much more fandom and commercial growth.”
With the major T20 franchise leagues around the world numbering double figures, and international cricket operating on a 12-month treadmill, Sixes has its work cut out to find a gap in a saturated market.
Bhatnagar said that not being “a vanilla franchise cricket event” gave the shorter format a leg-up.
“The majority of those leagues are not sustainable, commercially or otherwise,” he added.
“Sixes is a fast-paced, short-duration event, and I think it’s perfectly positioned for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, with the shortening attention spans.
“It’s countries playing each other. You have India against Pakistan, and Australia vs England, all the great rivalries, happening in one day. That doesn’t happen anywhere else and it sets us apart from the franchise leagues.”
This year’s Sixes will be staged from October 30 to November 1 and broadcast on Sony Sports Network.
After weak India teams flopped in the past two editions, Singh said work was under way to “ensure we have a great Indian squad”.
“We understand the value of stardom, but also I think we’ll ensure there is strong cricket … and great fans,” he added.
JSW Sports have signed up for an initial one-year with terms already in place for a further two years.
Burji Shroff, the chairman of CHKC, said the two sides were eyeing a long-term relationship.
“We look for partners with integrity and good reputations, and JSW has those qualities,” Shroff said.
“It’s easy for us to take the Sixes to another level alongside them. Going global is one of the big attractions, and we want to get higher-calibre players here to thrill the fans.”
Separately, after Indian officials led grumbles over accommodation and facilities for the forthcoming Japanese Asian Games, CHKC’s stance is that they are “comfortable” with the hotel booked for them by the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, and the set-up at host venue Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.
Also on Wednesday, the Hong Kong men’s team slumped to a 32-run defeat by Bahrain at the ACC Premier Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Having beaten Saudi Arabia on Monday, the city side will play their remaining group matches against hosts Malaysia and Nepal on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.
The top two advance to the semi-finals, while the tournament winners qualify for next year’s Asia Cup.
Hong Kong’s women face India in their second Asia Cup game on Thursday, six days after they suffered a six-run defeat by Thailand in their opening fixture.


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India giant JSW Sports, co-owners of Delhi Capitals, become tournament’s commercial partner, with event chiefs planning worldwide circuit.


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Indian Premier League club bosses, Hong Kong cricket aim ‘to go global’ with Sixes

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}India giant JSW Sports, co-owners of Delhi Capitals, become tournament’s commercial partner, with event chiefs planning worldwide circuit

India giant JSW Sports, co-owners of Delhi Capitals, become tournament’s commercial partner, with event chiefs planning worldwide circuit