“We wanted to organise a match on the IPL format and thought of this franchise where we formed teams and put them up on sale for the public,” Harsh Jhaveri, a member of ‘Juggernaut’, an independent five-member group formed two years ago to organise cricket and football matches in the city, is quoted saying. The group aims is to bring the excitement of the IPL to the general local public in the city at reasonable rates.
There were a total of 18 teams bought by individuals in Ahmedabad, and 160 players were auctioned. The auctioning worked as a point system where each owner was given 1,000 for Rs 2,350 in order to buy a team, and also 8,520 points as ‘liquid points’ to buy players from other teams if they needed to.
“As in IPL, we have the transfer window system in which the owners can use these extra points to buy players from other teams through mutual transfer or forceful buying. Each team gets to play eight matches,” Jhaveri stated.
Closely mimicking the names of the
IPL teams, some of the teams are called: Ahmedabad Fakers, Spartans, King Dons, Bullishers, Dark Horse Riders, Devil King Warriors, M United, Rising Star, D Vintage, Splenetics, Youth XI and Wizards. The Dark Horse Riders bought the most expensive player for Rs. 505. The matches are sponsored by Sparta Cements and Current, an energy drink brand, and the owners of the team who are entrepreneurs, businessmen and even students also serve as the coaches and mentors of their respective teams.
Jhaveri told the Business Standard that the winning team owner will get a cash prize of Rs 9,000 and the runners-up Rs 6,000. Players of the winning team would get Rs 1,500 and the runners-up Rs 1,000. The amount is modest, but even a small scale tournament like this has immense potential.
