Team Berhampur franchise goes to Infocity Lifestyle in Orissa Premier League (OPL)

The Orissa Cricket Association on Monday announced the names of 10 franchisees and the whopping bidding prices took everyone by surprise. The silk city Berhampur franchise was purchased by Infocity Lifestyle Private Limited for Rs 34 lakh, leaving other 5 biddeers behind. The highest bid of Rs 54.99 lakh came from LG Infrastructure, the franchisee from mineral-rich Keonjhar. Kashvi Power and Steel came up with the second bid at Rs 49 lakh. While the Dhenkanal franchise was bought by one Panchanan Mohanty at Rs 45.45 lakh, the Jagatsinghpur franchise was purchased by Arindam Sarkhal at Rs 36.05 lakh. This was followed by Puri, which was bought by Orisons Overseas Private Limited at Rs 36 lakh and Cuttack for Rs 35 lakh by Siddhartha Constructions while Angul was sold for Rs 27 lakh to Bikash Swain. Similarly, the Balasore and Rourkela franchises were bought for Rs 27 lakh each by SB India Infrastructure Pvt Limited and Maa Banabihari Mineral Limited respectively.

While OCA has fixed a base price of just Rs 4 lakh for owning a team in the OPL, the money quoted by bidders was much higher than expected. In total, OCA sold 138 forms out of which around 97 qualified. While OCA shortlisted at least 14 venue-based teams, only 10 teams were selected to play in the first edition. The four teams of Jajpur, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Kendrapara were turned away.

Source: Times of India