The bidding numbers for the two new IPL teams have left the cricket fraternity in amazement, but it is something that didn’t surprise the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly.
A total of 10 parties threw their hats into the rings to own the two franchises on Monday (October 25) in Dubai’s Taj Hotel. The bidders got to pick from six cities - Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Cuttack, Dharamsala, Guwahati and Indore - to base their team in.
The RPSG Group secured Lucknow as their home base with a winning bid of INR 7090 crores while CVC Capital opted for Ahmedabad with a bid of Rs 5625 crores.
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"We were not surprised actually, this (IPL) is a big brand and we are extremely happy that Indian cricket is moving growing forward. That is what is important for us. Congratulations to Sanjeev and CVC for being number one and number two but we look at Indian cricket and that's what our job is. The more Indian cricket prospers, the better it is," Ganguly said in a press conference after the announcement while replying to ANI query.
"All the money goes back to the Indian cricket. That's what we are here for, we want Indian cricket to go forward and it has gone long way forward in the few years. This is the 14th season of IPL and the brand has grown and I think it is a great sign for us," he added.
IPL Governing Council (GC) chairman Brijesh Patel stated: "We had nine bidders, all of them were qualified."
"CVC group quoted 5,625 crores for Ahemadabad and 5,116 crores for Lucknow. RP Goenka ventures quoted 7,090 crores for Ahemadabad, For Indore 4,790 and for Lucknow 7,090 crores."
"The highest was the Goenka group and they were highest for both Ahmedabad and Lucknow. And they preferred to take Lucknow as their franchise. CVC was second highest and they got Ahmedabad for 5,625 crores," he informed.
The two new franchises will be a part of the IPL from 2022 edition onwards. Before that, they will have to complete the post-bid formalities specified in the ITT document.
The IPL 2022 season of IPL will have 10 teams and there will be a total of 74 matches in the cash-rich tournament with each team playing seven home and seven away matches.
(With ANI inputs)
