It is the start of a new chapter for the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the addition of two new teams, which will make the tournament a 10-team affair from the upcoming 2022 season. The two new IPL franchises will be based out of Ahmedabad and Lucknow, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Monday. CVC Captial Partners, a private equity and investment advisory firm, won the bid for the Ahmedabad team, while the RPSG Group, an Indian conglomerate, won the bid for the Lucknow franchise.
RPSG Group's winning bid was of Rs. 7090 crore while that of CVC Capital was Rs. 5625 crore, the BCCI revealed in a press release.
"The new franchises will participate in IPL from 2022 season onwards subject to the bidders completing the post-bid formalities as specified in the ITT document. 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 press release stated.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and board secretary Jay Shah welcomed the two new teams to the IPL.
"The BCCI is happy to welcome two new teams from the next season of the Indian Premier League. I would like to congratulate RPSG Ventures Ltd. & Irelia Company Pte Ltd for being the successful bidders. The IPL will now go to two new cities in India viz in Lucknow and Ahmedabad," said Ganguly.
"I am thrilled for the people of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat as the long wait is over and they will now have their own IPL team. My best wishes to the two new teams," said Shah.
This is not the first time that RPSG Group has made a foray into sports. The group had earlier owned IPL franchise Rising Pune Supergiant (2016-17 seasons), and currently are majority owners of Indian Super League (ISL) club ATK Mohun Bagan.
The bidding process for the two new teams in the IPL took place in Dubai on Monday, with the two highest bidders winning the franchise rights.
With the additions of Ahmedabad and Lucknow, the IPL from next year will now be a 10-team tournament.
The BCCI had earlier shortlisted six cities -- Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Cuttack, Guwahati, Ranchi and Dharamshala -- as bases for the two new teams.
Expansion of the IPL is not a new experiment. Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala had joined the T20 league in 2010 before both franchises were terminated.
During Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals' suspension from the IPL, Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions joined the league as temporary participants.
Chennai Super Kings won the IPL 2021 title after beating Kolkata Knight Riders in the final at the Dubai International Stadium earlier this month.
However, all the teams will get a massive makeover with a mega players' auction set to take place.
It will also give a chance to the new Ahmedabad and Lucknow franchise to bid for some big-name players with reports suggesting that existing IPL teams can retain only a limited number of players.