Adani, Goenka, Dhoot and others queue up for IPL teams after Lodha committee verdict

The Indian Premier League ability to survive the Supreme Court-appointed panel’s verdicts is still being debated but Indian companies are already queuing up to clinch a possible new franchise, says a report in The Times of India.

According to the report , Gautam Adani of the Adani group, Harsh Goenka of the RPG group chairman, Sajjan Jindal of JSW, Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon group, Prasad Potluri of PVP Ventures and the Munjals of the Hero group are eyeing teams in the league, which has been marred by the recent spot fixing scandal.

The SC panel headed by former chief justice RM Lodha yesterday banned the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals from cricket for two years. The teams will also have to remain suspended until they get new owners. A section of experts even think the suspension of two major teams have raised questions about the survival of the league itself.

According to the ToI report, Harsh Goenka has confirmed his interest to the newspaper as he feels the SC verdict has “clean bowled corruption” in Indian cricket and honour has been restored.

Dhoot of the Videocon group has also confirmed to the newspaper that his company will definitley look at bidding for an IPL team. Explaining the rationale behind the intention, he has told the newspaper: “We spend crores in branding exercise and owning an IPL team would be a great idea.”

The report says while the BCCI may be looking at reviving Kochi and Pune teams, there are also chances that there could be a new Ahmedabad team. If indeed a team is set up there, who else to own it but Gautam Adani of the Gujarat-based Adani group.

As the report rightly points out, the scandal has negatively impacted the valuation of IPL teams. Media had recenlty reported that the United Spirits-owned Royal Challengers Bangalore is on the verge of being sold to JSW’s Jindal.

A report in The Economic Times had said the likely valuation of the team is $100 million. It is to be remembered that in 2008 Vijay Mallya, who then owned United Spirits, had bought the franchise for $111.6 million, the second highest after Mumbai Indians.

According to the ET report, Diageo, the new owner of USL, is forcing Mallya to sell the team.