There were two new additions to the IPL list of teams recently. The two new teams are Kochi and Pune. The auction for the franchise of two teams had taken place some time last week. As reports of the bidding amounts were announced, there were reports about the lastest of Bollywood couples to join the bandwagon. That is, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. The duo had joined up with the Videocon group to bid for the Pune team. The others were the Sahara group who bid for Pune and Rendezvous Sports World limited (RSWL), for Kochi. However, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor were not able to get the team of their choice, as their bidding amount was not as high as the other group.
Thus, finally, the Pune team of the IPL went to, The Sahara Group, for a bidding amount of US $ 370 million, and the Kochi team went to the Rendezvous, for a bid of US$ 333 million. Thus, from next year there will be a total of ten teams in the IPL. The bidding amount for the two teams is at par with the total amount that was collected for all the eight teams in the first year.
The Kochi team itself is said to be almost thrice the amount paid for Mumbai Indians, by the Reliance group of Industries. The other star couple Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra, who had purchased their team just before the IPL 2, last yearm was lucky to get Rajasthan Royals, team for US $ 15.4 million. However, this year, Saif and Kareena were not that lucky with the Pune team. Let’s hope they have better luck next time, just in case they are yet interested in the IPL!
