Adani shells out Rs 1,289 cr to buy most expensive WPL franchise

MUMBAI: The BCCI on Wednesday earned Rs 4669.99 crore from the sale of five Women’s Premier League (WPL) teams, with Adani Sportsline shelling out a massive Rs 1289 crore for the Ahmedabad side, which emerged as the most expensive franchise.

Indian Premier League team owners Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals made successful bids of Rs 912.99 crore, Rs 901 crore and Rs 810 crore, respectively, to enter the WPL. Capri Global Holdings won the owning rights for the Lucknow franchise at Rs 757 crore.

“Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men’s IPL in 2008! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered Rs.4669.99 Cr in total bid,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah tweeted.

Earlier this month, the BCCI sold the media rights of the WPL to Viacom18 for Rs 951 crore, getting a per-match value of Rs 7.09 crore for five years. Without a ball being bowled, the WPL has become the second richest T20 league in the world after the IPL.

Adani Group, which had failed to buy an IPL team when the Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchises were up for sale in 2021, has now made its official entry into Indian cricket. Adani Group announced that the team would be named Gujarat Giants.

Sitting alongside IPL governing council chairman Arun Dhumal, Shah informed that the highest bid for each city-based franchise ended up being the winning one. “There was a vast difference between bids,” Shah said.

Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders made unsuccessful bids of Rs 180 crore and Rs 666 crore for the Jaipur and Kolkata franchise respectively. As many as seven IPL franchises were in the WPL race and the ones to miss out were Punjab Kings, Knight Riders, Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Without a ball being bowled, the WPL has become the second richest T20 league in the world after the IPL