Chordia's group felt Sahara had Kanpur on mind

In cricket, nothing can be said till the last ball is bowled.

In cricket, nothing can be said till the last ball is bowled.

The consortium of Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon Group, Atul and Varsha Chordia of the Panchashil Group of builders, and actors Karisma Kapur, Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan looked set to bag the Pune IPL team a few days ago after meeting with success in the initial bidding. But then the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) called for rebidding.

It all ended with Sahara India snapping up the Pune IPL team yesterday after bidding Rs 1,700 crore, which was the highest bid.

Speaking to MiD DAY, Varsha Chordia said they were surprised and disappointed over not ending up with Pune team. Chordia's consortium had bid Rs 1,400 crore, which was the third highest bidu00a0-- another disappointment.
"Sahara bid an amount that was way more than our combined amount," said Chordia. "But what came as a surprise was that instead of choosing Kanpur, they opted for Pune. It was like a googly."

She said her consortium had also not expected to end up as the third highest bidder.

Chordia said, "When they (Sahara) won the bidding, we had expected them to go for Kanpur, which is closer home for the Sahara group, and that we would be the second highest bidder and go for Pune."

Chordia was also disappointed that though they had won the bidding a few days ago, the sudden change in rules by the BCCI to let others also participate in the bidding had come as shock. "They just cancelled the bidding and gave us a fresh set of rules and regulations," said Chordia. "No one gave any proper justification or any solid reason why the bidding was cancelled at the last minute."

Considering that the Sahara group has been actively involved with the BCCI for many years now, it did not come as a surprise that it would go all out to put up a winning bid. Asked what she felt about Sahara-BCCI relations, Chordia said, "Honestly, I would not like to comment on that because we really don't know what's happening within the BCCI."

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