Pune and Rajkot win rights to new IPL franchises

Kuldip Lal 09:42 09/12/2015
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  • IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla.

    Teams from the western cities of Pune and Rajkot will compete in next year’s IPL, replacing Rajasthan and Chennai after they were banned over a corruption scandal.

    The Twenty20 tournament’s chairman Rajiv Shukla said that New Rising, a subsidiary of the Sanjeev Goenka group, bagged the Pune franchise, while Delhi-based Intex Mobiles picked up the Rajkot team in Tuesday’s open bidding.

    Shukla said the owners had not paid the usual franchise fees to tournament organisers for the right to field teams, but would instead forgo payments from a central pool of money made up of cash from TV rights and sponsorship.

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    “This speaks to the enduring popularity of the tournament, that instead of us paying them money they are going to pay us,” Shukla said after the auction in New Delhi.

    New Rising have agreed to pay around $3.4 million annually for the Pune franchise for the next two years and Intex will pay around $1.5m for the Rajkot team.

    The auction followed the decision by India’s cricket board to ban the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals from the competition for two years on the recommendation of a Supreme Court-appointed panel.

    The 2013 IPL season was mired in controversy after police launched legal proceedings against several officials from the two teams and three Rajasthan Royals’ players for illegal betting and spot-fixing.

    Five players from each of the Chennai and Rajasthan franchises will be drafted into the new teams on December 15, while the rest will feature in an auction in Bangalore on February 6, Shukla said.

    Both Chennai and Rajasthan are expected to return to the IPL after their bans end following the 2017 edition.

    The new buyers have ensured the IPL will remain an eight-team event for at least the next two years.

    “We are very excited to be associated with a popular brand like the IPL,” said Intex director Keshav Bansal. “Gujarat is a great cricketing state and the people there are very enthusiastic about cricket.”

    The barred Chennai Super Kings, led by World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni, are the most successful team in IPL history, having won in 2010 and 2011 and finishing runners-up on four occasions.

    Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural event in 2008 under the captaincy of Australian spin legend Shane Warne, but have failed to make the final since then.

    Subhashish Mitra, Executive Director of New Rising, said: “Our aim is to be associated with the great game of cricket.

    “Pune is a great city and we have a very soft corner for it. When we were going through the list of cities available, Pune struck a chord with our mind and we are very glad that we got Pune. We are very proud to have built this association.”

    It means IPL cricket returns to Pune for the first time since 2013, when the Pune Warriors India left the tournament due to financial problems.

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