Cricket fans in Gujarat were quite upbeat when they finally got an Indian Premier League team after Intex Mobiles bagged the Rajkot based franchise for Rs 10 crore per year.
The side has been named Gujarat Lions and will be coached by former Australian allrounder Brad Hodge. Suresh Raina was named skipper.
Their logo sports a roaring lion and judging by its colour combination, expect the team to walk out in flaming orange kits.
Two new franchises replaced the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals after the spot-fixing scandal. However, the two heavyweights will be back in IPL action after their two-year ban ends, meaning that Gujarat Lions and Sanjeev Goenka’s Rising Pune Supergiants will probably be a short term projects unless the IPL decides to increase the number of teams in the money-spinning Twenty20 tournament.
IPL 9 will start on 9th April with the final on 29th May.
Feature image: Keshav Bansal, team owner of Gujarat Lions. Source: AFP