Shahrukh, Ambani, Zinta win bids

Mumbai, January 24:

Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan and industrialist Mukesh Ambani won bids today to own teams in the star-studdded Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL).

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya, film actress Preity Zinta and four companies also earned the right to own franchises for the IPL to be played across India in April-May. The tournament, featuring eight franchised city-based teams drawn from a star cast of cricket’s top players, will be held over 44 days in 12 Indian cities from April 18, Modi said.

Shahrukh will own the Kolkata team for the next 10 years, while Zinta got Mohali, Ambani has Mumbai and Mallya heads Bangalore. Reliance’s Ambani paid the highest bid of $111.9 million to bag the Mumbai team, Mallya secured Bangalore for $111.6 million, while Shahrukh got Kolkata for $75.09 million.

GMR Holdings paid $84 million for Delhi, India Cements secured Chennai for $91 million, and the Deccan Chronicle newspaper got Hyderabad for $107.01 million. Zinta bagged Mohali for $76 million and Emerging Media paid $67 million for Jaipur.

Each of the franchises will now take part in an auction for players next month.