Among new entrants, Gujarat Titans adds up to the IPL family. Gujarat Titans is a franchise cricket team based in Ahmedabad, as the name suggests, its representing Gujarat. The newbie team played their first match on March 28th 2022 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) the team has begun its journey starting from the 2022 season.
The franchise was founded in 2021 and the team will play its home matches at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera. The franchise is owned by CVC Capital Partners. The team, Gujarat Titans had revealed the date of an inaugural event which was held at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad which is the World’s Largest Cricket Stadium, on Sunday 13th March,
Captaincy by the youngest Pandya brother
One of the youngest and fabulous players, Hardik Himanshu Pandya is an Indian international cricketer who plays for Baroda in domestic cricket and captains Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League. He is an all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium.
Hardik was picked by Gujarat Titans for Rs 15 crore in the pre-auction draft and was named the captain as the former Mumbai Indians star will be seen as a new role of leading the side Hardik said captaincy is about man management. “Success is theirs; failure is mine. Our role will be to make sure the players are comfortable in whatever capacity we can help them out. Clarity, honesty has to be there,” he said. “In good times they don’t need any of us. But the season will test you, there will be difficult times and that’s when we will be there to support them,” Hardik reiterated what he had said during an earlier interaction.
Ashish Nehra to coach the “new” team
Former Indian forerunner Ashish Nehra is set to be their head coach while ex-England cricketer Vikram Solanki has been appointed their director of cricket. Meanwhile, India’s 2011 Cricket World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten will be the mentor and batting coach.
Gujarat Titans will take on Lucknow Super Giants in their opening game of the season. The game will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. This will be the first game of both franchises. Ahead of the auction, they signed three players. Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is the ace all-rounder of the side, whereas he will also captain the side. Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill were also signed ahead of the auction.
Gujarat Titans roped up 15 sponsorship deals
According to Arvinder Singh, chief operating officer of Gujarat Titans, the deals are in the “upper tier” in terms of size. Companies are said to have paid Rs 15-25 crore for a slot on the front of a jersey and Rs 7-13 crore to feature on the back of a jersey during IPL 14 last year. Headgear front positions were sold for Rs 2-4 crore and shoulder spots went for Rs 1.5-3 crore last year. Singh said electric scooter maker Ather, which has come on board as the principal partner, is the biggest property on the Gujarat Titans jersey.
The team has signed nine associate partners including non-banking financial company Capri Global and BKT Tires and their logos will feature on the jersey. Jio, pipe manufacturer Astral and Simpolo Ceramics will feature on the shoulders of the Gujarat Titans jersey. The headgear will sport logos of associate partners ACKO and toothsi. Fashion e-commerce company Meesho will feature on the trousers of the Gujarat Titans team kit alongside FanCode.
In addition, the team have also signed four famous partners. Dream11, audio wearable manufacture Boat and Kotak Cards have joined hands. Amul is the side’s official beverage partners, while Radio Mirchi is the radio partner.
CVC Capitals to own the team
CVC Capitals were the second-highest of the event to buy the team with INR 5625 Cr, and they selected the Ahmedabad franchise. The CVC Capital Partners are a British private equity and investment firm, whose total assets are worth over $75 billion. CVC Capital Partners’ foundation stones were laid by the popular banking firm Citicorp, who wanted to establish an investment firm. Citicorp’s venture capital investments started in 1968, CVC Capital Partners as a separate entity was formed in 1981
The team is all set to make Gujarat people proud
“We launched our logo on the metaverse. We had a jersey launch in Ahmedabad. We made it a point that we would go to Ahmedabad as we wanted to make Gujaratis feel proud of the fact that they have an IPL team whilst also taking care of fans at large who will associate with us. We got off the ground just prior to the auctions. So, in one month, we have worked on the name, the jersey, the logo, brand campaign and in the next couple of days the team anthem will be launched. Let the season start – there will be lot happening on the fan engagement front.”
Published By : VATSAL KOTHA
Edited By : KIRAN MAHARANA
