Winning Bizness Desk

Mumbai. Former Team India coach Ravi Shastri has shared a photo with Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who were watching a cricket match at Lord's. After this picture surfaced, there is speculation about corporate investment in 'The Hundred'. 'The Hundred' is England's innovative cricket league in which 100 balls are used in an innings.

Ravi Shastri commentator

In the second edition of this league, Ravi Shastri is doing commentary for a UK broadcaster. Sharing the picture on Twitter, he wrote, "In the wonderful company of two people who love cricket - Mukesh Ambani & Sundar Pichai @thehundred." This year's tournament began on 3 August and will end on 3 September at Lord's.

What is 'The Hundred' and it's rules?

Each team bowls 100 balls in 'The Hundred' format, irrespective to the 120 balls are bowled in T20 cricket. Instead of a six-ball over, ten balls are bowled in a row. Bowlers can bowl 5 or 10 balls in a row and a bowler cannot bowl more than 20 balls per match. A 25-ball power play for each team takes place at the beginning of each innings. Which means only two fielders are allowed outside the starting 30-yard circle during the power play.

The reason for doing this is to speed up the game, so that a match does not take more than two and a half hours. After a team has bowled 100 balls, its players switch to bat and face 100 balls. Whichever team scores the most runs wins the match. The Hundred consists of a men's and women's tournament, with eight teams competing in seven cities. Teams play in group rounds of 32 matches. Whichever team stays on top goes straight to the finals. The second and third placed teams in the table compete for the final.

Reliance owns three T20 teams

Reliance already owns three T20 teams in 3 countries. This includes BCCI's IPL, Emirates Cricket Board's UAE T20 League and Cricket South Africa's T20 League. On the other hand Sundar Pichai is a big cricket fan who once dreamed of becoming a professional player. Interestingly, Ambani and Pichai share a business relationship outside of cricket as well. In 2020, Google invested Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.7% stake in Jio Platforms. This made Google the second largest minority shareholder in Jio after Facebook.