Two new teams, namely Ahemdabad and Lucknow, will play for the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting next year. They were chosen following a competitive bidding procedure held in Dubai on October 25, 2021.
After Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG Group and CVC Capitals Partners successfully bid for the franchises in Dubai’s Taj Hotel, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the new teams. With a winning bid of Rs 7090 crore, the RPSG Group held Lucknow as their new franchise, while CVC Capital Partners acquired the Ahmedabad team with an offer of Rs 5625 crore.
RPSG Group, which formerly had a team in the league, has returned. In the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the company purchased Pune City’s franchise, which was created to cover the gaps caused by the bans imposed on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). As a result, rising Pune Supergiant (RSP) advanced to the finals in 2017, only to lose closely to Mumbai Indians (MI).
CVC Capitals won the franchise, which is situated in the Ahmedabad city of Gujrat. The city is home to the world’s biggest cricket stadium, the Narendra Modi stadium, which has a capacity of 1,30,000 spectators. The new teams will compete in the IPL, starting with the 2022 season. The IPL 2022 season will include ten teams and 74 matches, with each team playing seven home and seven away games.
Before 2022, the IPL featured ten teams in 2010, with Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala joining the league before both teams were cancelled. In 2015, IPL added Rising Pune Super Giants and Gujarat Lions as substitutes for the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals teams for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. After six years, the BCCI has introduced two new additional units in 2021.
The BCCI projected a gain of around Rs 10,000 crore but received Rs 12,690 crore from the two new franchises Lucknow and Ahmedabad, competing in the 2022 IPL.
Gautam Adani’s Adani Group, which offered roughly Rs 5000 crore, was one of the biggest firms that missed out. At the same time, Glazers from Manchester United and Torrent Group also fell short of the target. It was also said that Rhiti Sports, led by MS Dhoni’s manager Arun Pandey, made an offer for Cuttack that was eventually rejected.
In reality, RPSG ventures ltd. was the top bidder, making an offer of Rs 7,090 crore for both Ahmedabad and Lucknow. They also offered Rs 4,790 crore for the Indore franchise. On the other hand, Irelia Company Pte Ltd, bidding under CVC Capital, offered Rs 5,625 crore for Ahmedabad and Rs 5,166 crore for the Lucknow franchise, and they ultimately got the Ahmedabad team.
The Adani group, the top contenders, proposed INR 5,100 crore for both cities but unfortunately couldn’t succeed. The Glazers, who were also among the famous bidders, came up just short with bids of somewhat approx. Rs 4,000 crore.
