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Salman Khan Bids For IPL Pune Team in Chennai, Loses

Salman Khan bided for IPL Team Pune at Yesterday's auction. Even Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor unsuccessfully bid for the Pune team at the auction, and Sahara Adventure Sports Group snapped up the city as the highest bidder with $370 million (Rs 1,702 crore). Kerala-based consortium Rendezvous Sports bid $333.33 million (Rs 1,333.33 crore) to get Kochi as the other franchisee to make the Indian Premier League T20 Tournment, a 10-team affair from 2011 (Bidding for IPL 2011 Edition 4 teams in Chennai).

Interestingly, Katrina Kaif was also there but she was not bidding with Salman. In fact, she was representing the Adani Group from Ahmedabad which was bidding for Pune as well.

Earlier there were rumors that Salman and Adani Group may jointly bid for Ahmedabad team in IPL. And Salman can also be their Brand Ambassador. The details are not known as yet.

Katrina Kaif's present at the IPL teams bidding process in Chennai yesterday (21st March 2010), raised a commotion when she left with Salman, even though they arrived separately. She clarifies, "I wasn't bidding with Salman. I accompanied Reshma who is my close friend. Reshma (from Matrix) and I had gone to represent Matrix who put in a bid with the Adani Group. I was not bidding at all. Salman had put in a separate bid."

The 2 new IPL teams cost more than first 8 squads put together. Sahara Gets Pune For Rs 1702cr, Rendezvous Kochi For Rs 1533cr

Barely two years ago, when Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd made the highest bid for an Indian Premier League franchise (Rs 441 crore for Mumbai), many termed it as a massive gamble on a risky concept. The IPL sure has come a long way in a short time, with the Sahara group on Sunday bidding Rs 1,702 crore for Pune and Rendezvous Sports forking out Rs 1,533 crore for Kochi.

In fact, these two bids, worth a total of about Rs 3,235 crore, add up to more than the Rs 2,853 crore collectively paid by the existing eight franchise owners in the first auction, on January 24, 2008.

The IPL is invariably full of surprises and Sunday was no different. Favourites Adani Group and VC Digital (Videocon Group) were pipped by Sahara and a consortium of real estate players and businessmen brought together by Union minister Shashi Tharoor under the banner of Rendezvous Sports. The two new teams will become part of IPL in the 2011 edition. The franchises will be valid for 10 years.

The bidding, conducted behind closed doors, lasted less than an hour after the contenders trooped into a hotel in Chennai. The base price for each team was $225 million, more than four times the rate at which the first IPL auction began in 2008. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said five eligible bids were received in all, which included Rendezvous Sports, Sahara, Aman Vohra, Adani and VC Digital. There was a dash of glamour with Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan dropping in to represent some groups.

Sahara topped with a $370-million (Rs 1,702 crore) bid for a clutch of cities which included Ahmedabad, Nagpur or Pune. Eventually, the Subrata Roy-controlled group opted for Pune.

Size of bids surprises all, even Modi

The Sahara group won the bid for IPL franchise Pune on Sunday. Giving reasons for their choice of city, Abhijit Sarkar, corporate communications head at Sahara, told TOI: ‘‘It’s close to Aamby Valley. We have our business reasons for choosing Pune.”

The second bid was for $333.33 million (Rs 1,533 crore) from a consortium of investors under Rendezvous Sports who opted for Kochi as their base camp. “It would suffice at this point of time to let you know that we are a group of investors passionate about cricket.

“Some are from Kerala, some from other parts of India and some from abroad. I would not like to reveal too many details at this point of time,” said Vivek Venugopal, a builder from Kerala and one of the investors in the state. However, it is learnt that the group also includes Anchor Switches, Rosy Blue Diamond, Mukesh Patel, and Ravi and Sanjay Gaikwad.

Anchor Switches is a company from Gujarat owned by Mehul Shah. Rosy Blue Diamond is one of the world’s largest diamond manufacturing companies. Dilip Mehta is the CEO of this company, which owns jewellry brand ‘Orra’. Ravi and Sanjay Gaikwad are Mumbai-based businessmen. Sanjay Gaikwad is the CEO of UFO Moviez while Mukesh Patel is an education baron who runs technology, management and engineering institutions.

The size of the bids surprised one and all, including Modi himself. “I was expecting something in the range of $320m, but this does come as a surprise to me.

“You talk about recession, but all I can say is that there’s no recession in IPL,’’ exulted a beaming Modi. Among the losers, Aman Vohra placed a bid of $261.3 million, Adani Group bid $315 million for Ahmedabad and VC Digital bid $319.9 million for Pune.

‘‘Kochi does not have a cricket stadium as yet. The Kerala Cricket Association is in the process of building a world class cricket stadium. Till the ground becomes ready, IPL will provide alternative venues to Rendezvous,” Modi added. Pune, on the other hand, has a stadium under construction 30km from the city.

Sources close to Tharoor were, however, categorical that they would insist on some of the matches being held in Kochi. “We’ve a stadium there. If we have an IPL team, it’s for hosting matches in Kerala,” they said.

The bidders have 48 hours to pay 10 percent of their bid amount while the names of the two teams are yet to be finalised.

Asked about reports of a second IPL overseas, Modi said: “We are just looking at exhibition of Twenty20 matches overseas. There is no second tour.”

Will Pakistani players be allowed to play in the next IPL? “We hope Pakistan players can take part in the next edition. The auction for players will happen in September-October.”

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