2 New IPL franchises to be from Pune and Rajkot
Sanjeev Goenka of RP wins bid for Pune Franchise
Intex Group wins franchise for Rajkot
Kallis attracts top bid at MCL auction
Former South Africa allrounder Jacques Kallis attracted the highest bid of US $175,000 at the inaugural Masters Champions League (MCL) auction, held in Dubai on Monday. Kallis was signed by the Libra Legends franchise, owned by Popcorn Sports and Entertainment Private Limited.
MCL marquee players
- Abdul Razzaq and Michael Vaughan (Capricorn Commanders)
- Scott Styris and Heath Streak (Leo Lions)
- Sourav Ganguly and Graeme Swann (Libra Legends)
- Virender Sehwag and Kumar Sangakkara (Gemini Arabians)
- Mahela Jayawardene and Daniel Vettori (Sagittarius Soldiers)
- Graeme Smith and Azhar Mahmood (Virgo Super Kings)
Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist was the second most expensive player in the auction, purchased for $170,000 by the Sagittarius Soldiers franchise.
Kallis and Gilchrist were among the six icon players listed for the auction, along with Muttiah Muralitharan, Brian Lara, Paul Collingwood and Brett Lee. The base price for all icon players was set at $100,000. Collingwood was picked up for $140,000 by Capricorn Commanders, while Muralitharan was signed by Gemini Arabians for $120,000. Lara and Lee were picked up by Leo Lions and Virgo Super Kings respectively, for their base prices.
Each team was assigned two marquee players from a list of 12 that included eight former international captains.
Former Pakistan players Abdul Razzaq, Saqlain Mushtaq and Azhar Mahmood will also participate in the league for Capricorn Commanders, Gemini Arabians and Virgo Super Kings, respectively. Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and pacer Shane Bond will play for Sagittarius Soldiers, while allrounders James Franklin and Scott Styris were bought by Leo Lions. Kyle Mills was picked up by Gemini Arabians.
The MCL is slated to be played in January 2016 in the UAE and has received a ten-year approval from the Emirates Cricket Board. The league is run by former Australia batsman Dean Jones' company, Major Events Group.
Capricorn Commanders - Michael Vaughan, Abdul Razzaq, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Symonds, Chamara Silva, Ashwell Prince, Upul Chandana, Ryan McLaren, Jeetan Patel, Rikki Clarke, Rory Kleinveldt, Ben Laughlin, Rizwan Cheema, Geraint Jones, Sunil Joshi, Saleem Elahi.
Gemini Arabians - Virender Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kyle Mills, Saqlain Mushtaq, Jacques Rudolph, Naved-ul-Hasan, Justin Kemp, Paul Harris, Brad Hodge, Richard Levi, Ashish Bagai, Graham Onions, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Saqib Ali.
Libra Legends - Sourav Ganguly, Graeme Swann, Jacques Kallis, Brad Hogg, Ryan ten Doeschate, Ajay Ratra, Chris Read, Sean Ervine, Shaun Tait, Ryan Sidebottom, Michael Lumb, Marcus North, Taufeeq Umar, Nicky Boje, Ian Butler.
Leo Lions - Heath Streak, Scott Styris, Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs, Brendan Taylor, James Franklin, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Fidel Edwards, Mohammad Tauqir, Neil Carter, Hamish Marshall, Kyle Jarvis, Ramesh Powar, Simon Jones, Darren Gough.
Sagittarius Soldiers - Mahela Jayawardene, Daniel Vettori, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Bond, Khurram Khan, Phil Mustard, Tino Best, Nathan Hauritz, Alviro Petersen, Michael Carberry, Krishmar Santokie, Jonathan Trott, Yasir Hameed, Mushtaq Ahmed, Gavin Hamilton.
Virgo Super Kings - Graeme Smith, Azhar Mahmood, Brett Lee, Jonty Rhodes, Neil McKenzie, John Mooney, Dirk Nannes, Owais Shah, James Foster, Murali Kartik, Malinga Bandara, Gareth Batty, Hasan Raza, Jacob Oram, Humayun Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf.
Pune, Rajkot to host new IPL franchises
The new Pune and Rajkot franchises will replace Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in the 2016 and 2017 seasons BCCI The Sanjeev Goenka-owned New Rising consortium and mobile phone manufacturer Intex have won ownership rights of the two new franchises in the IPL. New Rising have picked Pune as their home base, while Intex have opted for Rajkot.
New Rising bid Rs minus 16 crore while Intex quoted minus 10 crore in the reverse bidding process through which the new franchises were chosen.
In a short media briefing, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said a total of five bidders had entered the fray to bid for the ownership rights of the two new franchises that would replace Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, who were both suspended for two years by the RM Lodha panel investigation the 2013 IPL corruption scandal. Harsh Goenka's RPG group, Chennai-based cement major Chettinad Group and Axis Chemicals were the other three bidders.
Under reverse bidding investors were encouraged to bid for lower than the base price of Rs 40 crore set by the IPL. This meant the BCCI would pay a maximum of Rs 40 crore from its central revenue pool to the new owner. The investor who bid the lowest price would eventually bag the ownership rights. Having bid in the negative, New Rising will now pay Rs 16 crore while Intex would pay Rs 10 crore to the BCCI per year of their contracts.
Incidentally all the five bidders opted for more than one city from the nine available. The four bidders other than Intex all had Pune on their roster. New Rising bid Rs minus 11 crore for Nagpur. Intex also bid for Nagpur and Visakhapatnam, but quoted Rs 10 crore for each of the two cities. Chettinad, meanwhile, quoted Rs 27 crore for both Pune and Chennai. RPG bid Rs 17.88 crore for Pune and Rs 20.88 crore for Rajkot. Intex bid Rs 10 crore for both Kanpur and Visakhapatnam. Axis, meanwhile, quoted Rs 15 crore for both Nagpur and Kanpur and Rs 10 crore for Pune
The bidding process lasted for about an hour and was a two-part exercise: the first half involved determining the mandatory technical eligibility of the five bidders followed by a check on the the financial eligibility of the five bidders.
Shikhar Dhawan reported for Suspect Bowling action during the Delhi Test