Breaking down the WPL auction – Who bid the most money? Which city got the most bids?

Adani Sportsline makes highest bid for five cities

Adani Sportsline Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the Adani Group, owned by Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest men, made the highest bid for five cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Guwahati and Kolkata. All the bids were of the same amount: INR 1289 crores (approximately USD 158 million), the highest in the entire auction. As per the rules set by the BCCI, if an entity places the highest bid for more than one city, it can choose its preferred city.

Adani Sportsline chose Ahmedabad, which has the world’s largest cricket stadium, the Narendra Modi Stadium, with a capacity of 132,000. Ahmedabad, which attracted half a dozen bids, is also home to the Adani Group.

Bengaluru and Chennai are the highest bidding cities

Bengaluru and Chennai, home to the two most popular teams in the IPL, bid the most: 12. And if your guess is another big Indian metro for third place in the same category, you are wrong. It was the central Indian city of Indore which came second with 11 dialects. They were the only three cities with double-digit bids, followed by Kolkata with nine. Mumbai received the least four bids.

INR 1000-plus cr gap between highest and lowest bids

In 2008, the owners of Rajasthan Royals paid $67 million (for ten years) to win the Jaipur franchise in the IPL. It was the least expensive franchise of the original eight. The Royals owners were hailed for their moneyball approach, which was one of the highlights of their fairy tale victory in the inaugural season under the captaincy of Shane Warne. Fifteen years later, the Royals’ owners haven’t changed tactics: their bid was the lowest for a WPL franchise as well. Royal Multisport Pvt Ltd, the current owner of the Royals, made three bids: INR 176 crore (Indore), INR 178 crore (Dharamshala) and INR 180 crore (Guwahati). The difference between the lowest bid (INR 176 crore of Royals for Indore) and the highest bid (INR 1289 crore of Adani Sportsline for five cities) was a staggering INR 1113 crore.

Bizarre strategy of Mumbai owners

If evaluating how much to bid is not a head-turning exercise in itself, the strategy adopted by IndiaWin Sports Pvt Ltd, the owner of five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians, has taken it to another level. Mumbai Indians, who were represented at the auction by their owner Akash Ambani, placed bids for eight cities. However, attention was drawn that each bid differed by Rs 0.03 crore: the bid for Guwahati was Rs 912.78 crore, for Indore it was Rs 912.81 crore, for Lucknow Rs 912.84 crore, for Kolkata Rs 912.87 crore , INR 912.90 crore for Chennai, INR 912.93 crore for Bengaluru, Delhi INR 912.96 crore, followed by INR 912.99 crore for his home base Mumbai. Eventually, he chose Mumbai as his preferred choice.

KKR aggressive but returned empty handed

Kolkata Knight Riders has been one of the most valuable IPL franchises – apart from having a massive fan following, it is co-owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd, which owns the Knight Riders franchise globally, was the only bidder to bid for all ten cities in the WPL auction. But they failed to secure a franchise this time, bidding the same amount – INR 666 crore – for each city.

Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited, which owns the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise, made the joint-lowest bid – two – with Yadu International Limited, one of the nine non-IPL-owner bidders. While Yadu bid for Delhi (Rs 305 crore) and Indore (Rs 301 crore), Royal Challengers bid for Kolkata (Rs 691 crore) and Bengaluru (Rs 901 crore), their final choice.

Bidders for multiple cities include 360 ​​Slingshot Sports Ventures Pvt Ltd (9 cities), Indiawin Sports and KPH Dream Pvt Ltd, which own the Punjab Kings in IPL (8 each), Capri Global Holdings Pvt Ltd, which won the WPL I won the Lucknow franchise. (7), Amrit Leela Enterprises Pvt Ltd and APL Sports Pvt Ltd (6 each), Adani Sports and JSW-GMR Cricket Pvt Ltd, owner of Delhi Capitals in IPL (5 each), Om Industries India Pvt Ltd – Haldiram (4) ), Shriram Value Services Limited, Sun TV Network Limited, which owns Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, and Torrent Investments Private Limited (3 each).