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CSK, Royals replaced by Pune, Rajkot based teams in IPL
India’s most happening and watched cricket league will now have two new teams Pune and Rajkot in the form of new franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
These two teams have been given the spot in place of the suspended teams of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years.
The Pune franchise was bought by Kolkata-based business tycoon Sanjiv Goenka’s company New Rising, while the Rajkot bid was won by Intex Mobiles.
While Goenka will shell out Rs 10 crore per year to the BCCI, Intex Mobiles will pay Rs 16 crore for the two-year deal.
“They won’t take a single penny from the BCCI. In fact they will pay the BCCI,” Board Secretary Anurag Thakur told reporters after a meeting of the IPL Governing Council.
The teams were sold through the reverse bidding process for which the base price was set at Rs 40 crore and bidders had to quote an amount less than that. The lowest bidder was given the franchises.
The process was necessitated by the suspension of CSK and RR for the involvement some of their officials and co-owners in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, which was probed by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice (retd) R M Lodha committee.
However, both the CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving out their suspension.
The interim franchises, which have been picked on Tuesday, will be participate in a draft to first retain their share of players.
Players from CSK and RR 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 their players.
The other three bidders in fray were Harsh Goenka of RPG properties, Axis Clinical and Chettinad Cement, all of whom quoted higher bids than New Rising and Intex Mobiles.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.