Published: Dec 08, 2015, 04:49 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 08, 2015, 04:49 PM (IST)
Indian Premier League (IPL) will see two new teams — one each from Pune and Rajkot — for the 2016 edition. The tournament begins on April 9 and will continue till May 29. The Sanjiv Goenka group New Rising have won the bid for Pune while Delhi-based Intex Mobiles the bid for Rajkot via reverse bidding. These teams will replace Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for two years before the original sides return for IPL 2018. Both Goenka and Intex won the teams via reverse bidding. This meant that they agreed to pay BCCI rather than the opposite. BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said, “They won’t take a single penny from the BCCI. In fact they will pay the BCCI.” READ: MS Dhoni among iconic cricketers to play for new teams in IPL 2016
Pune will get to choose first because they have paid more for the franchise. As reported by AFP, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said that instead of BCCI paying the teams money, New Rising and Intex would be paying the BCCI. “This speaks to the enduring popularity of the tournament that instead of us paying them money they are going to pay us.” New Rising will pay around 3.4 million USD annually for Pune while Intex will pay around 1.5 million USD for the Rajkot franchise. As things stand, Pune will get to bid first which means they will have the chance to choose from prized players like MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Steven Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Brendon McCullum, and more. Other big players in the auction include the likes of Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Stuart Binny, Dwayne Smith, Matt Henry, Ashish Nehra, and Sanju Samson. READ: IPL 2016: New Rising, Intex Mobiles owners of two new IPL teams
