Reports: BCCI to add one new team from Ahmedabad and one from Kanpur or Lucknow for IPL 2021

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already begun the preparations for organizing the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in India in the month of April and May. It is speculated that the Indian board is planning to add two more teams to expand the cash-rich league and make it a tournament of 10 teams instead of 8.

Though there has been no official announcement by any concerned authorities, reports suggest that in the list of shortlisted cities, Ahmedabad tops the charts and the new team can be from the city of Ahmedabad. BCCI wishes to make the newly-built Motera Stadium, also known as Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad as the home ground of the ninth team while one franchise can also be added from Lucknow or Kanpur.

The Indian board will be hosting its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on December 24th and will be taking a final call on whether to expand the tournament or not. Also, the state associations and members have reportedly also been briefed about the situation ahead of the highly-anticipated meeting.

Adani and Goenka group are favourites to own the new franchise

“Time constraints are there but the full auction will be in the interest of everyone. IPL Governing Council will formally decide on this in next 3-4 weeks and communicate to everyone concerned,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by Insidesport.

Also, the corporates Adani Group and Goenka Group are the favourites for buying the ninth or tenth team in the next edition of the T20 Championship. The two teams have strongly shown interest in owning a franchise. Adani Group owned by Gautam Adani and RPSG owned by Sanjeev Goenka.

While Adanis have repeatedly shown interest in buying an IPL franchise, the Goenka group was previously associated with the league as the owners of now-defunct Pune Supergiant. Two teams namely Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions were added to the Indian league for a period of two years in 2016 and 2017 after Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were banned from the tournament due to the 2013 batting scandal.