Lucknow and Ahmedabad are the two new IPL franchises
RPSG Ventures Ltd’s (owned by RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group) and Irelia Company Pte Ltd’s (owned by CVC Capital Partners) won the bids for the two new IPL teams, to be based in Lucknow and Ahmedabad, respectively, which would play from the 2022 season.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) will once again have 10 teams, 2022 onwards. Today, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) opened the bid documents from 10 parties (22 parties had picked up the tender document worth Rs 10 lakh) and selected RPSG Group’s (RP-Sanjiv Goenka) Lucknow-based franchise and CVC Group’s Ahmedabad-based franchise as the two winners.
“BCCI is pleased to announce the following successful bidders (subject to definitive documentation and other formalities being completed): 1. RPSG Ventures Ltd Lucknow (for Rs 7,090 crores); 2. Irelia Company Pte Ltd. (CVC Capital Partners) Ahmedabad (for Rs 5,625 crores),” went the announcement at Dubai’s Taj Hotel.
The purchasing date for the Invitation To Tender (ITI) documents had been extended to October 20 from the original date of October 5. Today, all the submissions were opened. It was an hours-long process, including verification and technical evaluation.
“The IPL 2022 season will comprise ten teams and will have 74 matches, wherein each team will play 7 home and 7 away matches,” the BCCI further announced.
Among the major losers were the Adani Group, which bid around Rs 5,000 crore, the Glazer family (owners of Manchester United football club) and pharmaceutical giant Torrent Group. The bid by Rhiti Sports, promoted by MS Dhoni’s manager Arun Pandey, which submitted a bid for Cuttack, was also rejected.
The last time 10 teams had participated was in 2011, when Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Pune Warriors India had joined the IPL. Then the Kochi Tuskers’ contract was terminated, and in 2012 and 2013, nine teams played, including Pune Warriors. For the 2016 and 2017 editions, there were two new teams again—Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions—this time, however, to replace the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Therefore, there were still eight teams in total.
