Pune and Rajkot on Tuesday became the new franchises in the Indian Premier League, replacing the suspended teams of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years, according to the PTI. The Pune franchise was bought by Kolkata-based business tycoon Sanjiv Goenka's company New Rising, while the Rajkot bid was won by Intex Mobiles. While Goenka will shell out Rs 10 crore ($1.5M) per year to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Intex Mobiles will pay Rs 16 crore ($2.4M) per year. BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said, "They won't take a single penny from the BCCI. In fact they will pay the BCCI." The teams were sold through the "reverse bidding process for which the base price was set" at Rs 40 crore ($6M) and bidders had to quote an amount less than that. The lowest bidder was given the franchises (PTI, 12/8). The BBC reported Chennai and Rajasthan are expected to return to the IPL in '18. Following their successful bids, the new two franchises "will not take money from the central pool available;" Pune will pay £1.6M ($2.4M) and Rajkot £1M ($1.5M) to compete. Their inclusion means the IPL remains an eight-team competition, with existing teams in Delhi, Mohali, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad (BBC, 12/8).
GOENKA DENIES GANGULY'S INVOLVEMENT: The PTI reported in a separate piece Goenka ruled out any case of "Conflict of Interest" as far as former India captain Sourav Ganguly is concerned regarding being a co-owner of the ISL franchise Atletico de Kolkata. Goenka: "Sourav is not been involved, that’s for sure. This is entirely mine. It’s 100 percent owned by me. It’s me and my group of companies." He added, "You all are being hypothetical that I’m going to rope in Sourav. We have not even thought about it. There has been no dialogue or discussion with Sourav whatsoever. I was generally speaking to him about cricket and he looked away" (PTI, 12/8).
RAKING IT IN: The PTI reported in a separate piece the BCCI is "all set to rake in a rich moolah" to the tune of approximately Rs 332 crore ($49.7M) for two years after "roping in" Intex Mobiles and New Rising. BCCI senior official Niranjan Shah was "ecstatic" about how BCCI "will be richer after this deal." Shah: "Look these two franchises has said that they do not want Rs 70 crore ($10.5M) from central revenue pool earmarked for franchises each year. In addition they are paying us Rs 16 and Rs 10 crore per year for next two years. This means in one year we are making Rs 166 crore ($24.8M) and for two it becomes Rs 332 crore" (PTI, 12/8).
PRIZE MONEY: IANS reported the BCCI announced a cash award of Rs 2 crore ($299,000) for the Indian team for beating South Africa 3-0 in the recent Test series (IANS, 12/8).
