Hyderabad: The cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India boosted its coffers further on Monday with the auction of two IPL teams bringing in a whopping Rs 12,715 crore.
In the bidding event held in Dubai, Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG Ventures Limited won the Lucknow franchise for Rs 7,090 crore while international equity firm Irelia Company Pte Ltd. (CVC Capital Partners) shelled out Rs 5,625 crore for the Ahmedabad team, edging out the pre-bidding favourite Adani Group owned by tycoon Gautam Adani.
The Glazer family that owns the world famous football club Manchester United were the other big name who fell short. They had bid through their equity firm the Lancer Group.
Former Indian captain and cricket icon Mahendra Singh Dhoni was another. His management firm Rhiti Sports placed the bid which was dismissed at the technical stage, for fronting for an industrialist whose relatives already own an IPL franchise.
Hindustan Times Media Private Limited, Torrent Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, All Cargo and Kotak Group were the others in the running to get hold of a franchise in either Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Indore, Guwahati, Cuttack, Dharamsala or Pune with the base price pegged at Rs 2,000 crore.
Goenka is not new to the IPL — he owned the Rising Pune Supergiants side in 2016 and 2017.
Lucknow and Ahmedabad will take part in the IPL from next year, making it a 10-team event.
