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The ownership of the two new teams that will feature in IPL 2016 is up for grabs till December 8, and according to reports in Mid-Day, India ODI captain and ex-CSK captain MS Dhoni is in line to be buying one of them.
Sources say that MS Dhoni informed the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) that he has the requisite support to acquire the teams, of which base price starts from Rs 40 crore onwards. The team auction has been lined for December 8, while the player auction will be held next year.
It is learnt that Dhoni told officials that he has the support of some industrialists from Ranchi, including the Mittals. Other companies backing Dhoni include Videocon and JSW Steel.
According to previous reports, there are nine cities that are currently vying for the rights to host the franchises – and Kochi and Jaipur have been excluded from the race. The new teams will come in place of CSK and RR, which are serving two-year suspension terms.
Five players each from each of suspended franchises would be put up for draft while others will be auctioned. If Dhoni indeed buys a team (based in Ranchi, Chennai, or some other city), it can be assumed that his own name would be on top of the list of players to be directly drafted.
It will also be hoped by CSK fans that the quartet of Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina – players who have formed the core of the team for years – get to continue playing for the same unit.
Other bidders, possible cities
Sanjeev Goenka, who heads Kolkata-based RPG Sanjeev Goenka group, has shown interest in acquiring a team too, from any other city than Kolkata. Goenka, who owns the Atletico Kolkata club in Indian Soccer League (ISL), has been urged to invest in cricket by former Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly, a partner in his soccer project.
"It could be any other city, it could be Ahmedabad, Kanpur or Indore," a top BCCI source is said to have divulged.
Dhoni recently praised the IPL, saying that it had brought the international fraternity of cricketers close to each other, and that it had taken the sting out of ugly sledging.
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