Before the beginning of the inaugural edition of Mumbai T20 league, it suffered a huge setback as one franchise pull out from the tournament. Shree Naman Group, a real estate group, who had bought the Mumbai-North franchise for INR 6.5 crore, withdrew from the tournament by forfeiting their contract.
The tournament is scheduled to begin on 11th March and it will run till 21st March. Total six teams are scheduled to participate and these teams are Mumbai-North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central and Mumbai-South. Probability Sports India Pvt. Ltd and Wizcraft Group are going to organise the tournament with the approval and sanction of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
Also read: Mithali Raj Feels India Can Be Tough To Beat In World T20A top MCA official agreed on the truthfulness of the news. On Monday, the official told TOI, “Yes, the Naman group wrote a letter to Probability Sports (the company formed by IIFL and Wizcraft to run the league) CEO Kadar Makanil, informing of their decision to back out from the league due to difficulty in arranging the bank guarantee.”
He also lightened up the reason for the sudden withdrawal as he said, “Post the Nirav Modi-PNB scam, the banks have become much stricter in these cases. Earlier, the bank guarantee could be arranged at the managerial-level, but now, one has to contact the head office of a bank, which takes around a month. It’s a sensible decision on the group’s part to inform us right now, as we can give that team to the next-highest bidder after due diligence. We’ve still given them (the Shree Naman Group) time till Tuesday to sort out their issues, but it looks unlikely.”
He further added, “As per the rules of the league, all the owners are supposed to submit a bank guarantee which is five times the value of the bid amount of the franchise which they’ve bought. Shree Naman Group will also have to cough up Rs 1 crore caution money, which is forfeited if you cancel your bid at this stage.”
On the other hand, an MCA official told The Indian Express that the Group was not looking this tournament as a profitable venture, especially in the initial period. He said, “They felt it was not a profitable venture for the first two years. During the pre-bidding meeting, the interested teams were told that the loss of share will be 34% but later after the bidding got over, they were told it could go up to 85%. There is no central pool revenue at the moment, neither is there any clarity over media rights. Teams were bought for six crores and an additional two crore would have gone in buying players and branding. Naman Developers felt it was not worth investing.”
Also read: Sachin Tendulkar Gives The Exact Definition Of The T20 Mumbai League
Recently, Indian legendary batsman, Sachin Tendulkar was appointed as the brand ambassador of this tournament.
