New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Two new franchisees, based out of Rajkot and Pune, won bids to be part of the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL). They will replace the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals that have been suspended for two years for spot-fixing and betting.
The Pune franchise was bought by Kolkata-based businessman Sanjiv Goenka's company New Rising. Intex Mobiles won the Rajkot franchise bid. Goenka will pay Rs.10 crore per year for two years to BCCI. Intex Mobiles will shell out Rs.16 crore for the period.
The 2016 edition of IPL will begin from April 9 and stretch till May 29, an IPL governing council meeting decided here on Tuesday.
"News: Sanjeev Goenka's New Rising wins bid for Pune team. Intex wins bid for Rajkot team for next two seasons of vivo IPL #vivoIPL," IPL's twitter handle said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's twitter handle retweeted the post.
The base price was pegged at Rs.40 crore for the franchisees by BCCI.
A reverse bidding process was employed for the selling of the teams and the bidders were stipulated to quote an amount less than Rs.40 crore. The lowest bidder won the right for the franchisees.
The suspended franchisees Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be allowed back in the league after serving out their punishment.
The interim franchisees can opt to retain the cricketers of CSK and RR through a draft system.
The cricketers will be divided into two groups of capped and uncapped and the top names will be sold through the draft system. The two new teams will have a minimum of Rs.40 crore and a maximum of Rs.66 crore to buy players.
The draft pick will be held on December 15. Pune will pick the players first, an IPL tweet said.
The IPL auction for the rest of the players will take place on February 6 in Bengaluru.
Fresh bids for two new IPL franchises arose after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were suspended for two years for the involvement some of their officials and co-owners in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice (retd) R.M. Lodha committee.