IPL’s new teams revealed
THE Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday (25) unveiled two new teams for the Twenty20 competition, with the Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchises.
The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which owned the nowdefunct Pune franchise for two IPL campaigns, bid `70.9 billion (£675.2m) for the Lucknow outfit, while Irelia Company Pte Ltd (CVC Capital Partners) put up a little over `56bn (£501m) for the Ahmedabad side.
Both teams will join the 2022 edition, which will have 10 teams and 74 matches. Each side will play seven home and seven away games.
The league had approved a proposal in December to add two franchises to the world’s richest Twenty20 competition.
“It is good to be back in the IPL and I am delighted,” RPSG owner Sanjiv Goenka told cricket website ESPNcricinfo. “It is an initial step. We now have to build a good team and perform.”
ESPNcricinfo reported that 22 companies had purchased the tender document but only nine were at the bidding process that took place behind closed doors in Dubai earlier in the day.
A senior Indian cricket board (BCCI) official confirmed that
among the bidders was a member of the Glazer family, which owns Premier League giants Manchester United.
“The Invitation to Tender process included two interested bidders from outside of India, which strongly emphasises
the global appeal of the IPL as a sports property,” BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly said in a statement. “The IPL is proving to be a wonderful instrument in globalising the game of cricket. I am keenly looking forward to IPL 2022.”