Sharad Pawar on Thursday came out in support of IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, saying there was nothing wrong in making public names of the stakeholders of the Kochi franchise.
"There in nothing wrong in disclosing the names of the stakeholders to the public," Pawar, former BCCI chief and ICC President-elect, said on Thursday.
He was asked about Modi revealing the names of the Kochi stakeholders, one of them being Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of the Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor. Tharoor is alleged to have had a hand in Pushkar getting free equity worth 70 crore in IPL Kochi.
Pawar was asked about questions being raised over transparency in IPL and allegations of underworld and betting syndicates pumping huge amounts in securing franchise.
"If the IPL Commissioner or BCCI President is asking any information about any bid, they have got every right to ask for the information because unless and until they collect the correct information, they will not realise who are behind this," he said.
The former BCCI President also supported Tharoor who helped set up the consortium which bagged the Kochi franchise, saying the minister's "basic interest" was to bring cricket to center stage in Kerala and provide opportunities to players from the state.
"What my observation is that Tharoor's basic interest was that Kochi should get opportunity in the IPL. He was eager to show to people of Kerala that IPL is also a part of Kerala and wanted to encourage new players from Kerala," Pawar said.
The Agriculture Minister hoped the IPL governing council meeting later this month will clear the "misunderstandings".
"I am absolutely clear that when (BCCI President) Shashank Manohar will have this meeting, all misunderstandings will be cleared," he said.
Pawar also said that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had no role in the entire episode.
"They (Kochi investors) met me once and there was suggestion that Kochi stadium will take a year or two to complete. So in the meantime if they play in Ahmedabad, that will be better.
"But I advised them 'you have taken the option of Kochi. Please do not shift the place'. Fortunately that time Narendra Modi was in town. These people met Modi also and in my presence Modi told the investors 'Don't insist for Ahmedabad because you got this opportunity for Kochi," he said.
Pawar said he did not believe Lalit Modi offered the Kochi franchise $50 million to back out. He also questioned the seriousness of the underworld threat that Tharoor is claimed to have received.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
'Outsiders' got IPL's Kochi franchise
Rendezvous Sports World Ltd (RSWL), the consortium of businessmen which won the Kochi franchise for the 2011 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, has yet to decide whether its base would be Kerala or elsewhere.
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According to Vivek Venugopal, co-owner of the team, all these details including the name, logo, etc had to be finalised within a couple of weeks. The five stakeholders were constantly in touch and would finalise the details shortly, he told Business Standard.
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Whether to call the team the Kerala Tuskers or something else was also to be decided and suggestions are welcome, he said.
Although it is the Kochi franchise, only one business group from Kerala was involved in this successful bid, the second largest one for an IPL team, and only indirectly. Venugopal is one of the directors of the Thrissur-based Elite group of companies. The group is into international trade, food processing, distribution, real estate and construction; it makes ready to eat food items under the brand name, Elite. It runs around 20 companies - Yamuna Roller Flour Mills, Elite Foods, Elite Breads, Elite Agro Specialities, Elite Natural and Elite Homes.
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Venugopal is directly involved, however, in a Bangalore-based company called Trading and Infrastructure. The group has presence mainly in the southern states and in Gujarat. He is the son-in-law of A V Anoop, managing director of the Chennai-based Cholayil Pharmaceuticals, active in ayurveda-based consumer products such as Medimix soap. The group is also running the Cholayil Sanjeevanam for ayurvedic treatment and naturopathy restaurants in various parts of the country. The Cholayil group is also actively involved in the film industry, producing a number of Malayalam movies.
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Apart from himself, he said the consortium partners were Pavinee Developers, Anchor Earth, Film Waves and Anand Shah Developers. None are based in Kerala.
He added the team would have at least six players from Kerala. The main hurdle before the Kochi franchise is lack of an exclusive cricket stadium. The Kerala Cricket Association has acquired 23 acres at Edakochi near here for an international cricket stadium, but construction is yet to begin.
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KCA is, however, confident of finishing the work by 2012. Another option before IPL is the Jawaharlal Nehru International stadium at Kaloor. Greater Cochin Development Authority, owner of the stadium, is ready to lend it for this use, for home matches. However, it is not exclusively a cricket stadium.
IPL Kochi franchisee spat sets up Modi-Tharoor clash
The IPL-Kochi franchisee controversy took a new twist on Monday, setting the stage for a face-off between IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor.
In a day of fast-paced developments, Modi was threatened with legal action by the franchisee, Rendezvous Sports, and received an admonition from BCCI for revealing who owns how much in Rendezvous. He countered by accusing Tharoor of calling him up to ask him not to seek the identity of the Rendezvous stakeholders, though regulations make it necessary for the identities to be revealed to IPL.
Interestingly, one of the Rendezvous stake holders made public by Modi in his tweets is Sunanda Pushkar, beautician-cum-socialite, who is reported by agencies to be on the verge of marrying Tharoor. Aides of Tharoor have refused to comment on the speculation on the ground that "it is an absolutely private matter".
Pushkar is said to divide her time between Mumbai and Dubai. According to Modi, she owns 18% of Rendezvous shares, though TOI could not confirm this independently. On the agreement papers, she is said to be a resident of Jammu Tawi.
What lends intensity to the unfolding drama is the suspicion that the IPL bosses - unhappy with Rendezvous gate crashing into the bidding - may be pressuring it to vacate the slot for an established corporate entity. The matter has taken on the dimension of a powerplay - not of the Twenty20 kind - with political circles buzzing about Tharoor lobbying Congress bigwigs to beat back the bid to get Rendezvous to leave Kochi.
Even if true, this failed to deter Modi from digging in his heels. A combative IPL commissioner reacted to a letter of rebuke by BCCI chief Shashank Manohar by insisting that his disclosure of the Rendezvous ownership pattern did not amount to breach of regulations. In fact, he alleged that the Kochi franchisee had a "lot to hide" and "have lied about who is the actual owner of the shares."
In a day of fast-paced developments, Modi was threatened with legal action by the franchisee, Rendezvous Sports, and received an admonition from BCCI for revealing who owns how much in Rendezvous. He countered by accusing Tharoor of calling him up to ask him not to seek the identity of the Rendezvous stakeholders, though regulations make it necessary for the identities to be revealed to IPL.
Interestingly, one of the Rendezvous stake holders made public by Modi in his tweets is Sunanda Pushkar, beautician-cum-socialite, who is reported by agencies to be on the verge of marrying Tharoor. Aides of Tharoor have refused to comment on the speculation on the ground that "it is an absolutely private matter".
Pushkar is said to divide her time between Mumbai and Dubai. According to Modi, she owns 18% of Rendezvous shares, though TOI could not confirm this independently. On the agreement papers, she is said to be a resident of Jammu Tawi.
What lends intensity to the unfolding drama is the suspicion that the IPL bosses - unhappy with Rendezvous gate crashing into the bidding - may be pressuring it to vacate the slot for an established corporate entity. The matter has taken on the dimension of a powerplay - not of the Twenty20 kind - with political circles buzzing about Tharoor lobbying Congress bigwigs to beat back the bid to get Rendezvous to leave Kochi.
Even if true, this failed to deter Modi from digging in his heels. A combative IPL commissioner reacted to a letter of rebuke by BCCI chief Shashank Manohar by insisting that his disclosure of the Rendezvous ownership pattern did not amount to breach of regulations. In fact, he alleged that the Kochi franchisee had a "lot to hide" and "have lied about who is the actual owner of the shares."
IPL player auction purse hiked to $7 million
The next IPL auction will have a salary cap of $7 million for each franchise, it has been announced. The auction, due to be held later this year, is likely to see all players available for signing for the first time since the inaugural auction in 2008.
"This would mean $70 million for the 10 teams every year and $210 million in three years," Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman was quoted as telling PTI. "This will be the single largest auction in sporting world, you see even in art auctions the bids are for a few million and that too for total ownership. In IPL, the amount that the teams would spend on players would be huge for having the contract for just three years."
Modi said the enhanced cap for auctioning would be for three years, starting with the fourth season of the IPL in 2011, and that the details of the increased ceiling and the auction programme would be announced after the current tournament.
Like in the initial auction for the 2008 season, Modi said there would be a three-year lock-in period for players acquired in 2011 as well, and that there would be "separate trading windows for the purpose", in case players or teams wanted to make changes.
The decision came on a day Subroto Roy, the Sahara Group chief who won the rights for one of the two new franchises added to the IPL, suggested an increase on the cap. Roy acquired the Pune franchise while Rendezvous World Sports bagged rights for the Kochi team, taking the total number to 10.
Owners of Rendezvous Sports World Limited
As per details revealed by IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, following is the share holding pattern of Kochi Franchise.
Modi further revealed on twitter that of the Rendezvous 25% free, 18 percent share (4.5% of total equity) is hold by Sunanda Pushkar, a lady friend of Congress Politician Shashi Tharoor.
- Rendezvous 25% free
- Rendezvous World Sports 1%
- Anchor Earth. 27%
- Parinee Developers Pvt. Ltd. 26%
- Film waves 12%
- Anand Shyam 8%
- Vivek venugopal 1%
Modi further revealed on twitter that of the Rendezvous 25% free, 18 percent share (4.5% of total equity) is hold by Sunanda Pushkar, a lady friend of Congress Politician Shashi Tharoor.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Number Crunching
1The number of bowlers, among those who've bowled at least 20 overs, with an economy rate of less than six. Anil Kumble is the only one
61The number of sixes for Gilchrist in all IPL games. Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina are the only others with more than 50.
5The most ducks by a batsman in all IPL matches. Piyush Chawla and Shane Warne share this record.
155The highest partnership for any wicket in all IPL games. Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman scored these for the first wicket
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