The Videocon group, which made an unsuccessful bid to buy the Pune team for the Indian Premier League (IPL), will make an attempt to buy out a team in the IPL-four season next year, group chairman Venugopal Dhoot has said.
Talking to reporters on Sunday, Mr. Dhoot, who was here for the launch of the Videocon mobile service in Gujarat, flatly denied pressure either from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the president of the Gujarat Cricket Association, or IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, to buy a team. “Since I was bidding for the Pune team, there was no interaction either with Mr. Narendra Modi or Mr. Lalit Modi,” he said.
The company entered the IPL bidding arena on its own because Videocon, manufacturing television sets and other electronic items, was very much in the entertainment field. “And you know how important the IPL cricket tournament has become in the entertainment field.” Videocon was keen on entering the IPL arena in a bid to reach out to its customers, he said.
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Mr. Dhoot did not rule out the possibility of the company making a bid to buy out the Kings XI Punjab team. But any such step would have to be taken only after the current IPL-three ended with the final match on April 25. “We certainly will be making another bid to own a team for the IPL-4 season,” he said.