The cities of Pune and Kochi will have two new teams for the PL from the next season onwards. Opening the bids for the franchises on Sunday at Chennai, the Sahara Group and the little-known, Rendezvous Group won the right to own the franchises.
The Indian Premier League governing council has decided that there would be two extra teams for the 2011 edition of the IPL from the existing eight sides. However, what is more surprising is the fact that the base price for the bidding has been increased to $225 million. This is more than four times the base price that was set for the first edition of the IPL and more than twice the price of the costliest team in the previous IPL – the $100 plus for Mumbai Indians.