SRK Bids for IPL Franchise

Among the top names doing the rounds for responding to the BCCI's offer of franchise for owning cricket teams in the IPL are Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and industrialist Lord Swaraj Paul. The media has already reported a list of interested bidders who include Anil Ambani and Vijay Mallya.

"Shah Rukh Khan has bid for a franchise," a top BCCI official has told IANS.

The official has also stated Paul as one among the 90 bidders.


Mumbai, the game's hub and home to the BCCI headquarters, and Delhi, where the board was formed in 1928, are amongst the big favourites with bidders.

Meanwhile, PTI has reported that the BCCI has ruled out any current player from having "a stake in a company owning any of the teams." Incidently, a leading business daily had reported that Sachin Tendulkar was in talks for a joint bid with the Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group.

A final decision on the teams, the league format and other related issues would be taken up at the IPL governing council meeting on 17 November in Jaipur.

IPL will comprise 56 matches in Twenty20 format. It has already pocketed many of the world's top cricketers like Australia's Shane Warne and Glenn McGarth, South Africa's captain Graeme Smith, New Zealand's Stephen Fleming and Pakistan's Mohammed Yousuf.

IPL will feature eight teams, with each playing home and away games against the others. After the league matches, the top four teams will play in the semi-finals with the grand final scheduled towards April-end.

Each franchise/team will have a squad of 16 players registered with the BCCI and drawn from its central contract pool. Each team will also feature under-21 players and those from the BCCI's annual contract.

IndianTelevision.com