IPL: BCCI deems CVC Capital fit to own Ahmedabad franchise

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) added two new teams, Lucknow and Ahmedabad, officially to the Indian Premier League (IPL) on October 25 (Monday). The RPSG Ventures group owned the Lucknow franchise while international investment firm Irelia Company Pte Ltd (CVC Capital Partners) managed to get hold of Ahmedabad team for whopping INR 7090 crores and INR 5625 crores respectively.

But soon controversy erupted as reports of one of the franchise owners’ link with betting company in the UK. Lalit Modi was the one to come down hard at the BCCI for not doing their homework properly and also put out a tweet regarding the same. This sparked a controversy and apparently, it came forward that CVC Capital had their links with a betting company.

#THREAD #IPL #FRANCHISE #BCCI #CVC

As I tweet this, the BCCI and CVC Capital, and their respective lawyers, are locked in a meeting in Dubai. There has been some serious discussion going on all day. As I said earlier, it’ll be a travesty if CVC are forced out of IPL. (1/22)

— KSR (@KShriniwasRao) October 27, 2021

However, according to journalist K Shriniwas Rao, the issues have been resolved. BCCI and CVC Capital lawyers met in Dubai on Wednesday to discuss the issue and the BCCI has now deemed them ‘fit and proper’ to own an IPL team. CVC also signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the Indian board to own the Ahmedabad franchise to put an end to the controversy.

Breaking now: BCCI & CVC Capital have resolved all issues. After several hours of discussion, BCCI has deemed CVC Capital 'fit & proper' to own an IPL franchise. CVC just signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with BCCI to own Ahmedabad franchise.

Wonderful news for Indian cricket. : )

— KSR (@KShriniwasRao) October 27, 2021

BCCI was reassuring in its tone always

Earlier, it was also reported that BCCI and CVC Capital had met to discuss the issue and an industry source claimed that the board was always reassuring in its tone. “They have had a conversation and the tone from the BCCI apparently was reassuring. CVC feels confident that the franchise will stand,” an industry source said while speaking to Cricbuzz.

Meanwhile, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has also avoided a possible conflict of interest case by resigning as a Director of ATK Mohun Bagan. The RPSG Group, who now owns the Lucknow franchise, also owns the ATK Mohun Bagan, an ISL team, of which Ganguly was the director until now. However, he has stepped down from the role and having cleared all the hurdles now, IPL seems set to launch big with 10 teams in the next season.