Shane Warne, the former Australian cricketer was left all amazed after he came to know that Ahmedabad and Lucknow were decided as two new franchises for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 edition. On 25th October, i.e. on Monday, BCCI (the Board of control for cricket in India) finally announced the owners of the new IPL teams after they conducted a competitive bidding process in Dubai.
The RPSG Ventures Ltd bought the Lucknow franchise for a whopping amount of Rs 7090 crores. While on the other hand, the ideal company Pvt Ltd that is the CVC capital partner brought the Ahmedabad team for a great number of Rs 5625 crores. According to the information which is mentioned in the ITT documents, now, the next step for the bidders is that they need to complete the formalities.
Now Shane Warne, the all-time second-highest wicket-taker in test cricket, mentioned cricket as the second most popular sport. Further, he also has words of Praise for the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly. Regarding this Shane Warne, taking to Twitter has made a tweet that reads, “Wow! Congratulations to both of the new franchise owners. A staggering amount of money for each team and shows why Cricket has become the second most popular and biggest sport on the planet. $932 and $692 million (USA). Well done to @SGanguly99 and everyone at the @BCCI on the @IPL.”
Sourav Ganguly, BCCI President said, “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 and Irelia Company Pte Ltd for being successful bidders. The IPL will now go to two new cities in India viz in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. “
He further stated, “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 a 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. The ITT process included two interested bidders from outside of India, which strongly emphasizes the global appeal of the IPL as a sports property. The IPL is proving to be a wonderful instrument in globalizing the game of cricket. I am keenly looking forward to IPL 2022,”
Regarding the whopping amount of money, Sourav Ganguly said on Monday that he was not so surprised by the amount of money that the two teams were sold for. He said that it helped to raise quite a few eyebrows. The former India captain has also stated that the sale of the two teams only reiterates the strength of Indian cricket.
At first, it was expected by the Indian cricketing spectrum that the Adani Group and the Glazers, the owners of English football club Manchester United, will win the bid for the two new IPL franchises. But the results came out shocking for all, as RPSG Enterprises and CVC Capitals emerged as the surprising winners for the bid of Lucknow and Ahmedabad. And talking about the CVC Capitals, they are not so well known in the Indian sporting spectrum, so this amazing move made by them comes as a great surprise.
It is actually the first time CVC Capital has bought a cricketing venture. But it has to be noted that CVC Sports have already invested thoroughly in different kinds of sporting leagues all across the world. While on the other hand, the Kolkata based company, RPSG Enterprises, are not new to the world of IPL as they already came up with a franchise named Rising Pune Supergiant for two years (2016 and 2017), at the time when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended from T20 league.
