Shane Warne, former Australian great and legendary leg spinners reacted after the two new additional teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) were sold for a whopping Rs 12,000 cr combined. IPL is set to become a 10-team-affair with Lucknow and Ahmedabad joining the fray.
Cricket has become the 2nd most popular & biggest sport on the planet: Shane Warne
BCCI announced the two successful bidders for the new teams on Monday. Sanjiv Goenka owned RPSG Ventures Ltd bagged the rights of Lucknow for INR 7,090 crores and Irelia Company Pte Ltd (CVC Capital Partners) got the rights of Ahmedabad for INR 5,625 crores. The new franchises will participate in IPL from the 2022 season onwards subject to the bidders completing the post-bid formalities as specified in the ITT document.
Australian spinner Shane Warne took to Twitter to express his contentment. He claims that the amount spent on the two new IPL teams shows that cricket is the second most popular sport in the world.
“Wow! Congratulations to both of the new franchise owners. Staggering amounts of money for each team & show why cricket has become the 2nd most popular & biggest sport on the planet. $932 & $692 million dollars (USA). Well done to @SGanguly99 & everyone at the @BCCI on the @IPL,” tweeted Warne.
Here’s Shane Warne’s tweet:
Wow ! Congratulations to both of the new franchise owners. Staggering amounts of money for each team & shows why cricket has become the 2nd most popular & biggest sport on the planet. $932 & $692 million dollars (USA). Well done to @SGanguly99 & everyone at the @BCCI on the @IPL https://t.co/pFkhKqv9ln
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) October 25, 2021
I am keenly looking forward to IPL 2022: Sourav Ganguly after the bidding process
BCCI President and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly gave a statement after the successful auction of the two teams. He welcomed the new owners and hopes that the new season unleashes more domestic talent on the global scene.
BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly, said: “The BCCI is happy to welcome two new teams from the next season of the Indian Premier League. I would like to congratulate RPSG Ventures Ltd & Irelia Company Pte Ltd for being successful bidders. The IPL will now go to two new cities in India viz in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. It is heartening to see the inclusion of two new teams at such a high valuation, and it reiterates the cricketing and financial strength of our cricket ecosystem.”
“True to IPL’s motto of ‘Where Talent Meets Opportunity, the inclusion of two new teams will bring more domestic cricketers from our country to the global stage. The ITT process included two interested bidders from outside of India, which strongly emphasizes the global appeal of the IPL as a sports property. The IPL is proving to be a wonderful instrument in globalizing the game of cricket. I am keenly looking forward to IPL 2022,” he added.
Highlights:
• Shane Warne believes cricket has become the second biggest sport in the world after seeing the amount spent on IPL teams.
• Sourav Ganguly congratulated and welcomed the owners of the new IPL teams.
