IPL to have two new teams from Pune and Rajkot

Pune and Rajkot today became the new franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL), replacing the suspended teams of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years.

The Pune franchise was bought by Kolkata-based business tycoon Sanjiv Goenka’s company New Rising, while the Rajkot bid was won by Intex Mobiles.

While Goenka will shell out Rs 10 crore per year to the BCCI, Intex Mobiles will pay Rs 16 crore for the two-year deal.

“They won’t take a single penny from the BCCI. In fact they will pay the BCCI,” Board Secretary Anurag Thakur told reporters after a meeting of the IPL Governing Council here.

The teams were sold through the reverse bidding process for which the base price was set at Rs 40 crore and bidders had to quote an amount less than that. The lowest bidder was given the franchises.

The process was necessitated by the suspension of CSK and RR for the involvement some of their officials and co-owners in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, which was probed by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice (retd) R M Lodha committee. However, both the CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving out their suspension.

The interim franchises, which have been picked today, will be participate in a draft to first retain their share of players. Players from CSK and RR will be divided into two groups of capped and uncapped and the top names will be sold through the draft system. The two new teams will have a minimum of Rs 40 crore and a maximum of Rs 66 crore to buy their players. The other three bidders in fray were Harsh Goenka of RPG properties, Axis Clinical and Chettinad Cement, all of whom quoted higher bids than New Rising and Intex Mobiles.