IPL Teams: Mukesh gets Mumbai, Kolkata to SRK

After prolonged suspense, BCCI Vice President and Chairman of the IPL Governing Council Lalit Modi disclosed the names of the winning bidders, who shelled out staggering amounts to be owner of the city-based teams.

Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani pipped Vijay Mallya to win the bid for the Mumbai team for USD 111.9 million.

The liquor baron, however, won the bid for the Bangalore team for USD 111.6 million.

Actor Shah Rukh Khan, joining hands with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta, won the bid for the Kolkata team for USD 75.09 million.

Fellow actor Preity Zinta and her boy friend Ness Wadia won the bid for the Mohali team for USD 76 million.

Among others, GMR Holdings won the bid for the Delhi team (USD 84 million), India Cements bagged the Chennai team (USD 91 million), Deccan Chronicle bid successfully for the Hyderabad (USD 107.01 million) outfit and Emerging Media won the bid for the Jaipur team for USD 67 million.

The bids of the ICICI, Sahara and Futures Group were disqualified, Modi said.

India Cements bagged the Chennai team (USD 91 million), Deccan Chronicle bid successfully for the Hyderabad (USD 107.01 million) outfit and Emerging Media won the bid for the Jaipur team for USD 67 million.

The bids of the ICICI, Sahara and Futures Group were disqualified, Modi said.

“We can say that all the hard work fructified and the IPL is here to stay,” Modi said.

Asked if Shah Rukh was bidding just to use cricket as a means to promote his films, Modi said, “Shah Rukh loves cricket and that’s why he invested his money. It has got nothing to do with film promotion. We have heard similar complaint in the past but the board never endorsed those views”.

He also dismissed suggestions that there was a conflict of interests in Indian Cement, which has BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan as a shareholder, becoming a team owner.

“Mr Srinivasan is just a stakeholder there and he is not the owner. So there is no such conflicts of interests,” he said.

Modi admitted some of the contracted international players would skip the twenty20 tournament which begins on April 18 owing to national commitments but said the pool was big enough.

“A team needs only four players from abroad and we already have a huge number of them contracted with us. You will have enough of them from the day one,” he said.

In all, 59 matches would be played over 44 days with ICC umpires officiating the games, which would be broadcast live on SET Max, Modi said.

“We already have 80 contracted players and their auction would start soon,” Modi said.