Chennai: After the long wait, the announcement has finally been made – the Indian Premier League is to expand to 10 franchises with the addition of the Pune and Kochi franchises from the 2011 season onwards.
The Sahara Adventure Sports Group has won the Pune bid at USD 370 million while the Rendezvous Sports World Limited has landed the Kochi bid at USD 333.33 million.
The announcement was made at noon in Chennai by IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi. Tenders had been floated on March 7 inviting bids for two new franchises.
Teams were earlier to be announced on March 7, following a tender process that had been put in place in February. The process was, however, cancelled and some of the requisites for bidders tweaked.
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar was all praise for the new development. He said, “It’s fantastic that two new teams have come in, it will give more youngsters an opportunity to show their talent and that's only going to be good for Indian cricket. The youngsters will not only come into national focus but international focus as well”
When asked about the pitfalls of franchises being city-specific he said, “It doesn't matter from which city they [franchises] are, we have seen in the past that a player doesn't have to be from a particular city. The franchise can pick him from any where.”
And what are his thoughts on the new franchises? “Pune has always been a sporting city, Kochi has always been an athletic and football[-oriented] city. Now with cricket coming in with the IPL, it will only continue to be more good news,” he said.
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