Dubai: The IPL bidding process for new teams ended on Monday as BCCI announce two new teams for the next season as in Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
CVC Capital won the bid for Ahmedabad for Rs 5,625 crore whereas the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group bagged the Lucknow franchise at Rs 7,0090 Crore. The new franchises will participate in IPL from 2022 season onwards subject to the bidders completing the post-bid formalities as specified in the ITT document. The IPL 2022 season will comprise ten teams and will have 74 matches, wherein each team will play 7 home and 7 away matches.
BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly is elated with the fact of having two new teams in the cash-rich league and have given his warm regards to the bidders who have won.
“The BCCI is happy to welcome two new teams from the next season of the Indian Premier League. I would like to congratulate RPSG Ventures Ltd. & Irelia Company Pte Ltd for being the successful bidders. The IPL will now go to two new cities in India viz in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. It is heartening to see the inclusion of two new teams at such a high valuation, and it reiterates the cricketing and financial strength of our cricket ecosystem. True to IPL’s motto of ‘Where Talent Meets Opportunity’, the inclusion of two new teams will bring more domestic cricketers from our country to the global stage,” Ganguly said.
The former India international mentioned about foreign bidders, that is the Glazers, who owns Manchester United. Glazers were the front-runners to win the bid but at the end they backed out.
“The ITT process included two interested bidders from outside of India, which strongly emphasises the global appeal of the IPL as a sports property. The IPL is proving to be a wonderful instrument in globalising the game of cricket. I am keenly looking forward to IPL 2022,” Ganguly concluded.