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Goenka Group Cvc Capital Win New Ipl Franchises Ahmedabad Lucknow To Debut As New Sides From 2022

Goenka Group, CVC Capital win new IPL franchises; Ahmedabad, Lucknow to debut as new sides from 2022

The RP-Sanjiv Goenka group and a private equity firm CVC Capital have won the bidding war to win two new franchises of the Indian Premier League. There will be an addition of two new teams from the next edition of the tournament and those teams will be based out of Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

The Goenka Group bid Rs 7,090 crore for the Lucknow-based side while the CVC got the Ahmedabad-based franchise for a sum of Rs 5,625 crore.

Both these bidders outbid the other interested business houses such as the Adani group, Torrent Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma. The Adani group valued each franchise at around Rs 5,000 crore while the Pharma heavyweights did not come close to even the Rs 5,000-crore mark.

There were other heavyweights such as the Kotak group and the owner of the Manchester United football club but they got knocked out of the race by the eventual winners.

Notably, the base price of each franchise up for the grab was mandated to be Rs 2,000 crore and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was expecting to attract bids around Rs 7,000 and hence they would be happy with the total valuation that the two sides have achieved, a number that stands at a staggering Rs 12,200 crore.

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Shaun Marsh's aggressive knock helps clinch comfortable win against South Australia

Western Australia rode on an emphatic batting display from Shaun Marsh to clinch a 6-wicket win against South Australia in a rain-curtailed match in Perth on Monday in the Domestic One-day cup. Chasing a target of 165 runs in 27 overs, the WA openers Josh Philippe and Sam Whiteman scored 30 runs for the first wicket before the latter departed for 7 off 23. Philippe followed his partner soon and was undone by Wes Agar for 26 off 28. Shaun Marsh who had come in at number three then stitched a stand of 32 runs for the third wicket with Cameron Green. Just as the two batters steadied the ship for the side, Western Australia lost a couple of wickets in quick succession to get reduced to 74/4 at the end of 16 overs. But it was D'Arcy Short and Marsh who took the onus on themselves and made sure that there were no further fall of wickets. While Marsh remained unbeaten at a 63-ball 80, Short struck 35* off 27 during the course to see the side home. Earlier, in the day, South Australia had a disappointing start to the proceedings after losing Alex Carey early in the innings before Weatherald and Head stitched a stand of 40 runs for the second wicket to provide the resistance. While Weatherald went on to notch up a half-century, head could only manage to score 28 off 19. The SA side were pushed on the backfoot after getting reduced to 138/6 but an unbeaten stand of 55 runs between McAndrew and Worrall helped the team put 193/6 in 35 overs on the board. For WA, it was Matthew Kelly who was the pick of the bowlers after he returned with figures of 2/37 in 7 overs.

T20 World Cup | AFG vs SCO: Win will bring a lot of smiles back home, says Afghanistan captain Nabi

Afghanistan will be up against Scotland in their first fixture of T20 World Cup 2021 in Sharjah on Monday. Captain Mohammad Nabi has said that a win would bring a lot of delight for the fans considering the current situation and the political chaos in Afghanistan. “Everyone knows that back home in Afghanistan there’s a lot happening and everything from the last few months,” he said in the press conference ahead of the game in Sharjah on Monday. “But as a cricket point of view, everybody is ready for this World Cup and we prepared well.” “The fans are really waiting because the only happiness in Afghanistan is cricket,” he said. “If you’re willing to do well in the tournament and we win the games, the fans are really happy and there will be a lot of smiles on faces.” Talking about the conditions, Nabi admitted that a number of players in the squad have been playing franchise cricket and they have played a lot in the UAE as well, so they are pretty familiar. “We are playing a lot of cricket in UAE and we know the conditions,” he said. “Everyone back home is thinking that Afghanistan have the best team in these conditions,” he added. The Asian side who made an automatic qualification in the Super 12 stage has Namibia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand in the group apart from Scotland.

T20 World Cup | ICC punishes Lahiru Kumara, Liton Das for ugly exchange on the field

The International Cricket Council has reprimanded Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Kumara and Bangladesh’s Liton Das after their fiery exchange during their game on October 24 in Sharjah. Kumara has been docked 25 per cent of his match fees while Liton was fined 15 per cent of his salary. Both the players were handed one demerit points each. The duo caught in an ugly confrontation after Liton was dismissed caught off Kumar’s bowling having played a sluggish run a ball innings of 16 runs. The ICC reached a conclusion that Kumara was wrong for "actions and words which provoked an aggressive reaction from the batter" that led to the Bangladesh opener reacting "aggressively and in a manner which was contrary to the spirit of cricket". Bangladesh posted a big total on the board against Sri Lanka riding high on half-centuries by Mohammad Naim and Mushfiqur Rahim, who smashed the bowlers all around the park on the way to 37-ball 57. However, their bowling could not defend the total of 171 runs at the Sharjah cricket ground. Sri Lanka chased down the target with five wickets in their hands and seven balls remaining on the back of a swashbucling 49-ball 80 by Charith Asalanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s 31-ball 53.

T20 World Cup | IND vs PAK: Mohammad Rizwan produces shots he visualised before game

Team India were taken aback by the flawless batting of the Pakistan opening pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam and, but the former who was more aggressive of the duo had visualised every bit of it before the big game. He started off Pakistan’s chase of 152 runs with a crisp shot through mid-on and mid-wicket and followed it up with a half pull off front foot for six. He took 10 runs off Bhuvneshwar Kumar and he had visualised playing all the shots he played in the first over before the game in a video produced by the International Cricket Council. Rizwan remained unbeaten on a 55-ball 79 and led an embarrassing defeat for India in the company of Babar Azam, who remained undefeated at a 52-ball 68. Before their brilliance with the bat, India were handed a harsh reality check by the impressive Pakistan bowling attack led by Shaheen Shah Afridi who uprooted both Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in his first two overs. It was always an uphill task for the men in blue and only Virat Kohli managed to score a fifty as India could manage only 151 runs on the board. Rizwan has been a revelation for Pakistan in the format after earning a promotion to bat at the top with the skipper and his numbers with the bat has been staggering.