Rising Pune Supergiant owner Sanjiv Goenka could be keen on continuing as a franchise owner in the Indian Premier League, despite his team’s two-year tenure coming to an end. He may be interested in investing in returning IPL team Rajasthan Royals, if this Mirror report is to be believed.
Goenka is currently in England, reportedly to discuss the ownership of the Royals management with Manoj Badale, who currently holds close to 40% of the Rajasthan Royals shares. The speculation was further strengthened due to the presence of Raghu Iyer with Goenka, reported Mumbai Mirror.
Iyer is the CEO of the Goenka’s sports wing and he was chief executive of the Royals management. However, Goenka neither confirmed nor denied the talks.
“I have business here with close to 4000 people working in my firm. I have come for that purpose, I will also be visiting the India games in the Champions Trophy,” Goenka was quoted as saying by Mirror.
Talks about the sale of Rajasthan Royals have been doing the rounds for a while. However, there are several owners with different amount of shares in the management, and it is unclear whether Goenka will be able to acquire all of them.
Rajasthan Royals had been suspended from the IPL over spot-fixing, were away from for a period of two years, which has now been served. Goenka’s current team, RPS, were among the two teams added in the absence of Rajasthan and Chennai Super Kings. However, both Pune and Gujarat Lions are only given a two year run, and with the original teams returning next season, won’t be part of the tournament next season.
Pune has enjoyed a good run this season, reaching the final of this year’s IPL. They lost to Mumbai Indians in the final, but had the player of the tournament in Ben Stokes, who was also the most expensive international player in IPL.
