HOWZAT

The ICL had barely announced Brian Lara, the former West Indies captain, was on board when the BCCI unveiled the IPL.

Deutsche Bank, Emerald Telecom Services, which is owned by Mukesh Ambani's estranged brother Anil, and DLF, the construction giant, were among those who participated but failed to win teams.

Anshu Jain, the head of Deutsche's Global Markets division, had also considered bidding using his own vehicle, an IPL source said.

Temasek, the Singapore Government's investment fund, and Macquarie Bank, of Australia, also paid to receive a prospectus for the sale.

The IPL now moves on to an auction of players to be held on February 7.

It says that it has contracted the world's top 80 cricketers, according to ICC rankings.

A handful of "iconic" figures will play for their home cities — Sachin Tendulkar for Bombay and Rahul Dravid for Bangalore.

The winners

Mukesh Ambani – Bombay – $111.9 million

Vijay Mallya – Bangalore – $111.6 million

Deccan Chronicle – Hyderabad – $107.01 million

India Cements – Madras – $91 million.

GMR Holdings – Delhi – $84 million

Ness Wadia – Mohali – $76 million

Shah Rukh Khan – Calcutta – $75.09 million

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive