New cricket franchises City Kai Tak and HKI United set to beef up expanded Hong Kong T20 Blitz

City Kai Tak and HKI United will be the new franchises at next year’s expanded Hong Kong T20 Blitz, with both teams promising to bring exciting cricket to the tournament with a mix of foreign and local players.

City Kai Tak are the expansion team as the Blitz goes from four to five franchises, while HKI United take over from Woodworm Warriors and are owned by a husband and wife team who have an interest in Pakistan Super League champions Islamabad United.

The two outfits will join Kowloon Cantons, Hung Hom JD Jaguars and Galaxy Gladiators Lantau (formerly Lantau Galaxy Riders) when they compete in the March tournament over five days.

The group that owns City Kai Tak sponsored Kowloon Cantons in the inaugural edition and has decided to form its own team upon learning a new franchise would be up for grabs.

“Being a sponsor, we took a back seat and our interest was just financial,” said Alok Jain, one of five owners of City Kai Tak. “Being cricket enthusiasts we want to take a front seat and when a new franchise became available we decided to get a team ourselves.

“Our primary focus is to raise the standard of the game and up the ante. Last year it was quite nice but some teams had a relatively sedentary approach and we want to bring in more excitement and bring in more players.

“This year, the quota for overseas players is up to five and we would like to use the entire quota. We want to bring in one or two marquee players and other high-performance but relatively newer players.”