The Indian Premier League (IPL) has certainly changed the scene ever since its inception. While successful corporate business owners own the teams, Bollywood superstar Sharukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Preity Zinta are no different. With the new season is coming up, a mega auction will take place along with the inclusion of two new teams. And, as per the reports, Bollywood superstar couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh could be in the race of buying a team in the IPL as well.
According to a report in Outlook India, “The BCCI is not keen to give the rights to an off-shore company and will prefer Indian buyers but power equations can change the script dramatically,” said a top official who is involved with the bidding process.
Meanwhile, the probable names of other bidders are pharma companies like Torrent Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma. Along with them, a Singapore-based private equity firm and US-based venture capitalists have also shown interest, as well as Naveen Jindal (Jindal Power and Steel) and entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, who is also in the race too. Notably, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla whereas Zinta is the co-owner of Punjab Kings (PBKS).
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As far as sports the Bollywood couple is related to sports, Deepika Padukone’s father Prakash Padukone is a former All England badminton champion. Meanwhile, Ranveer Singh has been involved with the English Premier League and he is also the brand ambassador of the world’s most popular basketball league, the NBA as well.
“Although it is a closed bid, we are expecting a fair and transparent process. The only hodgepodge could happen in the verification/elimination stage but it is unlikely BCCI will adopt unfair means to favour particular companies,” said a bidder on condition of anonymity.
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However, there will be an elimination round in the IPL team selection where all bids will be ‘technically’ verified according to the rules given by the BCCI. Later, all successful bids will then be opened and the highest bidders will get the teams as well.
