At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, two new men’s teams were added to the Delhi Premier League (DPL) for its second edition.
The top bidder was a consortium led by Savita Paints Private Limited, which bagged the Outer Delhi franchise for ₹10.6 crore. The second team was secured by a consortium of Bheema Tolling and Traffic Solutions Private Limited and Crayon Advertising Limited that bid ₹9.2 crore for the New Delhi franchise. There was one other bidder in the fray.
It takes the number of teams in the men’s competition to eight. The six existing teams were East Delhi Riders, South Delhi Superstarz, Central Delhi Kings, North Delhi Strikers, West Delhi Lions and Purani Dilli 6. The number of teams in the women’s section remains four.
The player auction for the upcoming season will be held over the course of two days. The tournament is likely to begin in the last week of July and carry on for a month.
The first edition was held in August and September last year. East Delhi Riders won the inaugural edition thanks to a narrow three-run win over South Delhi Superstarz in the final.
The tournament provided a platform for youngsters to grab the attention of Indian Premier League scouts. One of the star performers was left-hand batter Priyansh Arya, who won the Player-of-the-Tournament award after scoring 608 runs in 10 innings for South Delhi Superstarz.
Priyansh hasn’t looked back since then. He attracted a bid of ₹3.8 crore from Punjab Kings in the IPL auction, and he justified that price tag in the 18th edition by contributing 475 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate of 179.24 as PBKS finished runner-up.