Bollywood power couple Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone to bid for a new IPL franchise.
IPL 2022: The Expansion of the affluent Indian Premier League (IPL) has brought everyone on their toes as the existing eight franchise game is soon proceeding towards being a ten teams affair with two new teams joining in.
Earlier in the day, owners of the famous football club Manchester United, the Glazer family, was reported to have shown interest in operating an IPL team while there is another name that is also in the fray to own an IPL franchise.
As reported by Outlook, Bollywood power couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are also in the fray to bid for the franchise and have reportedly picked up the Invitation To Tender (ITT) document rolled out by the BCCI to own and operate a team.
Several reports also emerged which stated that the actor couple could possibly join hands with the Glazer family to place a bid for the new IPL team.
Indian Premier League (IPL) has had deep ties with Bollywood stars since its inception in 2008. The two times title winners and the reigning runner-up of the IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), is co-owned by actor Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla. While the newly rebranded Punjab Kings (earlier Kings XI Punjab) is led by another Bollywood actor Preity Zinta.
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The race for two new franchises, earlier, looked just a two-horse game where the Adani Group and the RP-Sanjeev Goenka Groups were seen actively tracking the developments, however, with time the race has taken an interesting turn with several new players coming into action owing to the success of the IPL 2021 in UAE.
Apart from the aforementioned names Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharma, Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma, Hindustan Times Media, Jindal Steel (led by Naveen Jindal) and entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala are a few other businesses tycoons that have shown their eagerness to acquire an IPL franchise.
Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Dharamsala, Guwahati, Ranchi and Cuttack are some prominent names of cities that BCCI has thrown to the interested parties. The first two are likely to attract some serious bids owing to their giant stadiums and luxurious facilities within the cities.