In the 2008 auction the Anil Ambani Group had pitted for Ahmedabad city, but had lost as the amount fell short by a few crores. It was the less-fancied Jaipur that had the last laugh.
If the cricket crazy Amdavadis and Gujaratis felt let down by denial of a cricket team to the city, here’s something that can up their hopes once again. The co-owners of the newly formed Kochi team, some of whom are surprisingly Gujaratis, say their next bid will be for Ahmedabad.
“We cannot tell if it will be anytime soon, but our bid, and it would be a big one, will be for Ahmedabad whenever the next auction is announced,” said Vipul Shah of Parani Developers, which is part of the Rendezvous Sports Group that bought the Kochi team.
The Rendezvous Sports Group made Kochi a surprise IPL host with a $333-million bid. The consortium, which was backed by Shahi Tharoor, union minister; also includes Rosy Blue Diamond, owned by Dilip Mehta, and Bhavnagar’s Mukesh Patel, owner of ship breaking company Shri Ram Vessels Scrap and Mehul Shah owner of Anchor Switches.
“We are all friends and ardent followers of the sport. So, we decided to come together to buy an IPL team,” Shah said. When asked why they didn’t follow suit and appoint a Bollywood star to garner public support, Shah said, “We are businessmen, and nobody understands the importance of branding better than us. There are, in fact, many who are willing to join hands with us. We will definitely have an ambassador with us.”
Meanwhile, the Gujarat Cricket Association vice-president Parimal Nathwani blamed internal politics for Ahmedabad’s failure to have its own team. “This happened for the second time. It was an unfair bidding,” said Nathwani, who is also president of Reliance Group for corporate affairs.
It is worth recalling that in the 2008 auction the Anil Ambani Group had pitted for Ahmedabad city, but had lost as the amount fell short by a few crores. It was the less-fancied Jaipur that had the last laugh. It was also speculated that Ahmedabad lost to Jaipur because IPL commissioner Lalit Modi hails from the Pink City.
He was reportedly influential in formation of the Rajasthan Royals.
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