Record bidding for two new IPL teams; Minister Tharoor in fresh controversy

The recession blues are truly and definitely over for India. How else can one explain the mind-boggling bids for two new teams for the IPL 2011 season, worth a total of about Rs 3,235 crore! To spice up matters further, Twitter favourite Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, was linked to the Kochi bid.

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 pessimists called it as a gamble on a risky concept. But on Sunday, with the Sahara group bidding Rs 1,702 crore for Pune and Rendezvous Sports World forking out Rs 1,533 crore for Kochi, in Chennai all records were broken. The two bids 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. Videocon (Rs1,471.5 crore) and Adani (Rs1,449 crore), favourites before the BCCI called for re-tendering, went home empty-handed.

The consortium of real estate players and businessmen was reportedly brought together by Union minister Shashi Tharoor under the banner of Rendezvous Sports. However, Tharoor made it clear that he has no stake in the Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League and that his role was confined to encouraging the consortium that eventually bagged the team.

Tharoor said he does not have the required resources or time to get involved in the bidding, which was a business-oriented decision taken by business-minded people.

"All I did on my part was to offer encouragement, blessings and expert advise when required to the bidders. Beyond that, I had no role to play. It's a group of business people and I understand it's a business decision," Tharoor explained. Tharoor left it to the consortium partners to name the side although he himself once remarked that it could be Travancore Tigers. “It’s up Gaekwad (one of the partners of the group) to decide on this,” Tharoor added.

The Kerala side will be based in Kochi. The city is yet to have a stadium of its own and Modi said the IPL will assist providing them with alternative venues. Medium pacer Sreesanth could be one of the key players for the Kochi team.

Tharoor's clarifications came after little known Rendezvous Sports World Limited bagged the Kochi franchise for a staggering USD 333.33 million for the next 10 years.

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. Actors Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, as well as Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, had congregated at a plush Chennai hotel in anticipation of bagging an IPL team. But they were no match for the businessmen with rich coffers.

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.

- Asian Tribune -