'So Who’s Going to Wear Pink?': Rajasthan Royals' Emotional Tweet After Losing WPL Team Bids Goes Viral

The five franchises going to participate in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) have been locked as the BCCI confirmed the successful bidders on Wednesday. The Adani Group bought the Ahmedabad-based team, Capri Global got the hold of the Lucknow team while the owners of Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals are set to field their women’s team in the upcoming league.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Royals had a heart-breaking experience in the auctions. The franchise was keen to buy a WPL team but it couldn’t make it to the final five. Taking it to their official Twitter handle, the franchise expressed its disappointment but also welcomed the league graciously.

“So who’s going to wear Pink? There won’t be a Royals team at the Women’s IPL yet, but we’re thrilled to finally watch it come to life. Cheering for all the five teams from the other side," tweeted RR.

Earlier, RR CEO Jake Lush McCrum had told Cricketnext that the franchise was looking forward to buying a team in the WIPL.

“The process is open now, and we have got the tender documents. The bid deadline is Jan 25th. So, we shall see," he had told News 18 CricketNext.

Jake said women’s game is seeing a massive growth in world cricket and they had sensed the potential a couple of years back.

“We have invested a huge amount of money in women’s cricket especially in last few years. And that will continue whatever happens."

“There is some reasonable economics involved, but we want a team and we have shown that keenness. And it would have been two years ago It might have been just us or a couple of others who were really keen to push this cause (Women’s IPL). And it’s great to see the growth of the women’s game since then," he said.

According to the BCCI, Adani Sportsline placed a winning bid of Rs 1289 crore for the Ahmedabad-based team thus making it the most expensive of the five teams to be bought at the auction. Indiawin Sports shelled out Rs 912.99 Cr for Mumbai which was the second-highest amount to have been paid for a WPL franchise.

Royal Challengers Sports paid Rs 901 crore for the Bengaluru franchise while JSW GMR paid 810 crore to buy the Delhi team. Capri Global Holding Pvt. Ltd paid Rs 757 crore for the Lucknow franchise.

The BCCI had shortlisted ten cities as home bases including Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Indore, Bengaluru, Guwahati and Dharamsala.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Wednesday confirmed the development through a tweet, stating that bidding for teams of the inaugural edition of the WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men’s IPL in 2008.

“Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men’s IPL in 2008! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered Rs.4669.99 Cr in total bid. This marks the beginning of a revolution in women’s cricket and paves the way for a transformative journey ahead not only for our women cricketers but for the entire sports fraternity," Shah tweeted.

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