Ahmedabad Franchise To Be Called ‘Gujarat Giants’

The Ahmedabad franchise of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) will be called the ‘Gujarat Giants’, Adani Sportsline, the sports arm of the owners Adani Group, announced on Wednesday. Adani Group bought the Ahmedabad franchise at the highest bid of INR 1289 crores at an auction held by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday. The first edition of the WPL could be held in March of this year, with the player auction most likely in February.

Adani extends the sports arm

Adani Enterprises Director Pranav Adani said, “The Indian women’s cricket team is doing very well. The Women’s Cricket League is an important step towards creating more opportunities for women through sport.”

Upcoming Women’s Premier League’s Gujarat Giants cricket franchise joins Adani Sportsline’s family of successful teams such as ILT20’s Gulf Giants and Pro Kabaddi League’s Gujarat Giants ongoing in the UAE.

“Cricket is an inseparable part of the national organization and Adani Sportsline was eager to begin its relationship with the sport with the first edition of the Women’s Premier League. We wish all other franchises to be the best but we want the Gujarat Giants to stand. Looking forward to being the best team in this exciting new league,” he added.

Franchises go for huge sums

Besides Adani Sportsline, Indiawin Sports Pvt. Ltd acquired the Mumbai franchise for a bid of INR 912.99 crores. Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd, JSW GMR Cricket Pvt. Ltd and Capri Global Holdings Pvt. Ltd won the remaining three teams, Bangalore, Delhi and Lucknow respectively, in bids of INR 901 crores, INR 810 crores and INR 757 crores respectively.

“That said, we were clearly disappointed that we did not win a team bid in the historic first season of the women’s Premier League. We always knew there would be plenty of competition given the IPL’s success in the men’s format. But we still look forward to supporting the Royals family. We are securing a female franchise to expand and hope to have the opportunity to do so in the future,” said RR.

Rajasthan dedicated to the women’s game

Rajasthan said she would continue to discover the next generation of female cricketers in India.

“At Royals we have been and will continue to be deeply committed to the women’s game. We are making significant investments in the new talent hunt ‘Cricket Ka Ticket’ to find the best female cricketers in the country and give them a path to development. “To the Women’s Premier League and hopefully the Indian team, our high-performance center in Nagpur continues to serve as a hub for both men and women players with world-class coaching to help with their overall development.”

“With the goal of further strengthening women’s grassroots cricket, we will continue to invest in organizing and expanding competitions such as the Rajasthan Royals Women’s Cup, which can be a stepping stone for potential women’s cricket superstars in Indian cricket.”

Our intention is to continue to expand these investments and explore other ways to enable the growth of women’s cricket in India and take it to the next level,” she added.

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