IPL

IPL - 2010, logos of 8 Teams

Sahara Adventure Sports, part of the Sahara group, and little known five-member consortium, Rendezvous Sports, have won “an extremely competitive” bidding for the two new franchises (Pune and Kochi) of Indian Premier League for 10 years.

Two new teams from Pune and Kochi will be playing in the IPL from 2011. The total number if IPL franchises reached to 10 with entry of Pune and Kochi teams. And 94 matches will be played. 

The other cities in the fray were Ahmedabad,  Cuttack, Dharamsala, Gwalior, Indore, Kanpur, Nagpur, Rajkot, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam. 

Addressing the media, Mr Lalit Modi, the IPL Commissioner,  said there were totally five bidders – Sahara Group, Adani Group, a Pune consortium, VC Digital (of Videocon group) and Rendezvous Sports. Sahara group offered $370 million (Rs 1,702 crore) against Adani group's $315 million and Pune consortium's $261.3 million. As Sahara was the highest bidder for three places – Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Pune – it was asked to choose any one, and it chose Pune to be its home ground."

According to Mr Modi, Rendezvous offered $333.33 million (Rs 1,533 crore) for Kochi and clinched the deal.

He said the total bidding value of the two new franchises is more than the total value of all the other eight franchises. “Overall, the bidding was extremely competitive and I hope, they make good business,” said Mr Modi.

Answering to a question on the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr Shashi Tharoor's involvement in the bidding process, he said, Mr Tharoor, who is an ardent fan of cricket, helped Kerala to have a team of its own. “And his role ended there.”

Mr Modi also ruled out any further expansion of IPL in the near future.