Pune, Kochi are two new IPL sides
Pune and Kochi are the two new franchises for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League.
By Aditya Ramachandran
Sahara Adventure Group and Kerala based consortium Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited won the bids at a whopping sum of USD 370 million and USD 333.33 million respectively to be a part of the fourth edition of the IPL.
Sahara will have Pune as its base and Rendezvous has chosen Kochi as its ground. Sahara had also included Ahemdabad and Nagpur in its bid (each at USD 370 million) but opted for Pune due to logistics and infrastructure.
Declaring these two as the winners of the bid on highest quotation, Lalit Modi, chairman of the IPL said, “Sahara’s bid of USD 370 million (Rs 1,702 crore) was the highest amongst the five bidders and Rendezvous' was the second highest with USD 333.33 million (Rs 1,533.32 crore) and these two bidders have been allocated the two new franchises for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League for the year 2011. These two companies have bid for a period of 10 years.”
“People have been talking of recession going on world over but as far as IPL is concerned there is no recession at all. We will continue to be on upward trend”, Modi said.
Three other bidders also had Pune in their bids. Amman Nora, a Pune based consortium, bid at USD 261.30 million, Adani enterprises’ bid amount was USD 315.00 million and V.C. Digital Solution Pvt Ltd also bid for Pune at USD 319.90 million, Modi said.
Actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif were also present at the bid meeting. Modi, however, said, “I do not have the list of the groups they were representing. They were part of the other consortium that lost in the bid process."
The existing eight teams' bid realised a total value over the 10 year period at Rs 2,840 crore and the two new teams alone are more than the value of all the eight teams put together. The value of the two new entrants is Rs 3,235.53 crore (USD 733.00 million).
Modi also said that participation of Pakistani players would be decided later. “We hope Pakistani players will be allowed. The auction will be taking place in the last week of September or beginning of October this year. It will be decided then. The governing council has decided on certain number of players to be retained. We will decide that by September or October”, he said.
“An expansion in the near future is unlikely. I do not foresee any further expansion for many years to come but you never know,” he added.
“We have one season and with two more teams the number of games moves to 94 in the season 2011. We are looking at playing exhibition matches in various countries.”
On Shashi Tharoor’s, MOS for External Affairs, involvement in the Kerala consortium that won the bid, Modi said, “Mr. Tharoor was involved in facilitating and trying to get a team for the state of Kerala. He has been an ardent fan of cricket. He has been trying to get people to bid for Kochi. He wanted to see a team coming from Kochi. I think he has been able to fulfill that.”
Kerala is said to be in the process of building a world class facility. Till the stadium is ready, the IPL will provide them with an alternate venue to play their games.
On the number of foreign players in a side, Modi said, "We want and encourage world class players to participate in the IPL. We allow 10 players to be part of a team out of which four play in a match. There is no plan to increase the number from four for a match.”
Meanwhile, Abhijit Sarkar of the Sahara group said, “Our chairman, Subroto Roy has been a support for all sports in the country. We have been supporting Indian cricket for the last 15 years. IPL is the best commercial proposition. It is a pride for us to be one of the IPL franchise. The franchise is owned solely by Sahara and it will be run by us.”
Shilander Gakeward of the Rendezous group said, “We are happy to note that we are one of the two successful bidders and have won the franchise for Kerala. Our consortium promoted by Rendezvous sports world is truly excited.”
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