Divya Delhi:Cricket in the area has benefited from the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) decision to sell its shares in The Hundred clubs. 'The Hundred' is their premier event, and it has raised GBP 975 million by selling stakes in eight teams with investments from four prominent IPL franchises. In order to secure private expertise and investment into The Hundred's teams, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has finalized exclusivity agreements with eight parties. Four of the eight franchises have been acquired by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries-Oval Invincibles (owners of the Mumbai Indians), the GMR Group-Southern Brave (co-owners of the Delhi Capitals), Sanjiv Goenka's RPSG-Manchester Originals (owners of the Lucknow Super Giants), and Sun TV Network-Northern Superchargers (owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad).The news agency PTI reported that the combined investments of the four IPL teams would amount to around GBP 300 million (roughly Rs 3257 crore), or approximately 30% of the valuation obtained through stake sales.The question now is if Pakistani players would be permitted to play for the four IPL teams in which they have an interest. Players from Pakistan have not participated in the IPL since the Mumbai bombings in 2008. In actuality, Pakistan has not been represented in the first three seasons of the SA20, in which all six teams are affiliated with IPL teams. That won't be the case in The Hundred, though, according to ECB CEO Richard Gould. "We're aware of that in other regions but that won't be happening here."