Indian Premier League: Board of Control for Cricket in India Names Pune, Rajkot as New Cities

New teams from the cities of Pune and Rajkot will feature in the Indian Premier League 2016 and 2017. In fresh bids in New Delhi on Tuesday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced that New Rising (Pune) and Intex (Rajkot) will be the new franchises in the lucrative Twenty20 championship.(Chennai, Rajasthan Players to Play for New IPL Teams)

Pune and Rajkot replace Chennai Super Kings and the Jaipur-based Rajasthan Royals. Both teams, former IPL champions, were suspended by a Supreme Court appointed panel because their team owners - Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai) and Raj Kundra (Rajasthan) -- were charged with betting and sharing team information with bookies during the 2013 edition of the tournament.

The new cities were chosen after a reverse bidding process in which a franchise that claims the least from the BCCI's coffers (mainly earned from broadcast and sponsorship fees), wins. However, Sanjeev Goenka's New Rising and Intex (a mobile manufacturing company) did not ask for any BCCI assistance.

"They won't be taking even a single penny from the BCCI but they will be contributing... from their side to the BCCI," BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur told reporters.

On Tuesday, five bids were finally submitted after more than 20 companies had showed initial interest by picking up application papers. New Rising were the best bidder, offering to pay the BCCI Rs 16 crore. Intex were second best by agreeing to pay the Board Rs 10 crore.(Delhi Daredevils Sack Gary Kirsten as Coach)

Kesav Bansal of Intex said: "Happy to make a start in IPL. We had to win the bid. We will see what happens after two years."

This was the first time the BCCI adopted a walk-in reverse bidding policy to ensure that the valuation of the teams did not go below the base price of Rs 40 crore-a-side.

Interestingly, Chettinad Cement of Chennai were one of the unsuccessful bidders. The company is owned by a group led by ex-BCCI president AC Muthiah.

Chennai Super Kings were owned by India Cements, whose managing director was the controversial BCCI president N. Srinivasan. Meiyappan is Srinivasan's son-in-law. Muthiah was Srinivasan's one-time mentor and don't see eye to eye now.

Players' Draft on December 15

The new teams will now have the option to choose from the top five players each from Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. This will be decided during a players' draft on December 15. The trading window for the other six teams also starts on the same day.

Both Pune and Rajkot will have a purse of Rs. 66 crore each to pick their players. The same price band will be applicable for the five capped players, with the first player getting Rs. 12.5 crore and the fifth pocketing Rs. 4 crore.

(With inputs from Rica Roy)