Delhi: Of the two teams whose takeover was announced before the start of IPL 2026, one was Royal Challengers Bangalore and the other was Rajasthan Royals. Home city Jaipur, Rajasthan Royals was bought by an American consortium of Kal Somani for a record price of $1.63 billion (about Rs 16290 crore). A few hours later, the $1.78 billion takeover of the Bengaluru team also broke this price record.

By the way, let us tell you that the biggest offer for Rajasthan Royals was $ 1.70 billion, but the current owners chose a lesser offer of about Rs 700 crore because this offer was from those who were already associated with the sports team, whereas those paying more money were pure businessmen.

Of all the teams in the IPL, the Rajasthan Royals, originally built at the lowest price, have had a reputation from the beginning as being a team with less glamour, less buzz or controversy, and similarly being behind the top group in the game, but none of this is true.

They became IPL champions in the very first season, film stars were the shareholders of this team, since they did not belong to any one group, its shares kept getting sold in the market and don’t even ask about the controversies. Bans for match-fixing, arrests of its players, embroilment of its owners and feud with the host association: this team has seen it all.

In 2008, BCCI was surprised to see the name of Jaipur in the list of 11 cities in which it had invited offers to form teams (and had to select 8 of them). It is said that because Lalit Modi, who started the IPL, himself was from Rajasthan, Jaipur’s name not only came in the list but the team was also formed.

When no big group was making any special offer to form a team in Jaipur city, behind the scenes Lalit Modi himself tried and gathered some business people and the team was formed.

According to official records, in the 2008 IPL auction, Rajasthan Royals was bought by Emerging Media IPL Limited for $67 million. There were three more contenders to form the Jaipur team and their offers were also more than $67 million. What happened was that by the time the time came to sell the Jaipur team, all three big contenders had taken teams from other cities, that is, they were automatically out of the race, so the Jaipur team was sold cheaply.

Once the team was formed, everyone was equal after that. Following the sale, his group company, Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited, was listed as the owner. It was the lowest priced team compared to the other 7 franchises but won the title in the very first season. At that time, no big Indian star cricketer was included in this team and they brought Shane Warne who was 38 years old and had retired from cricket.

In 2008, Bollywood star, Shilpa Shetty Kundra and her husband Raj Kundra bought an 11.7% stake in it.

When Raj Kundra got involved in a match fixing case in 2015, he was suspended for life from IPL. In those years, stadiums used to fill up to see Shilpa cheering for the team. This team had given about Rs 7.5 crore to help in oxygen supply during the time of Covid. Only after that other teams started providing help from their coffers.

Small portions of the team’s shares kept being sold in the market, but the control over the team remained with ‘Emerging Media Ventures’ led by the largest shareholder Manoj Badale. Even now it was he who did the takeover deal. In this way, the team which was built for $67 million in 2008 will be sold for $1.63 billion in 2026. The new owner consortium includes Rob Walton of the Walmart family and the Hamp family (Ford Motor Company).

The consortium led by Times Internet, Aditya Birla Group and the Mittal family led by ArcelorMittal CEO Aditya Mittal were also in the race to buy it. British-Indian Manoj Badale had 65 percent stake in this franchise and due to this huge stake he had control over the team. Now, Kal Somani’s group has bought the entire 100 percent shares and with this put an seal on the rapid volume valuation of the league. Well, this deal was less than the sale of Royal Challengers College for $1.78 billion, yet the value of this franchise, which was built for just $67 million in 2008, has increased manifold.

However, uncertainty is looming over this deal because Raj Kundra has sought intervention from BCCI. His 11.7 percent stake is stuck in legal custody and he says how can the entire 100 percent stake be sold in this uncertainty?