Pune and Rajkot will be the two new franchises that will take part in the Indian Premier League in 2016 and 2017, the tournament's governing council announced on Tuesday. The IPL Governing Council met in Delhi to award the bids to the two new teams that will replace the banned Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals franchises for the next two seasons, following the Justice Lodha verdict in the 2013 spot-fixing and betting scandal.
Electronics company Intex Mobiles won their bid by offering Rs 10 crore, while businessman Sanjiv Goenka's firm New Rising offered Rs 16 crore. Intex chose Rajkot as their base while New Rising chose Pune. The two new franchises were awarded to their respective bidders through the reverse bidding process. Under this process, Intex and New Rising had the lowest bids.
Both teams will be able to buy five players each from the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in a player draft on December 15. They will have a minimum of Rs 40 crore and a maximum of Rs 66 crore to buy the players. The cricketers who will remain unselected will go to general pool in the next player auction, scheduled for February 6 in Bengaluru, reported PTI.
In a media briefing, it was also announced that the next IPL season in 2016 will start on April 9 and end on May 26. Mumbai will host the season opener, as well as the final.
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