Apart from the upcoming high-octane clash between India and Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, one more thing that has dominated the cricket headlines is who will own the two new IPL teams.

A day after reports emerged that the Manchester United owners the Glazer family has shown interest in buying one of the two franchises, now it is being reported that Bollywood star couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh have expressed interest in buying an IPL franchise.

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As per a news report published in Outlook, the power couple has joined the race to follow in the footsteps of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Preity Zinta in becoming part owners of an IPL franchise.

‘King Khan’ is a part owner of Kolkata-based franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) alongside Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta. The franchise has won the IPL title twice in 2012 and 2014, while they reached the final this year where they lost to MS Dhoni’ Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Finally a game up to our potential What a knock by sadda captain @klrahul11 #CSKvsPBKS @PunjabKingsIPL @IPL pic.twitter.com/bNcWlOdFOa

— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 7, 2021

Bollywood’s dimple queen Preity Zinta has a stake in Punjab Kings (PBKS). Both SRK and Zinta have a stake in their respective franchises since the tournament's inception in 2008, while Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra owned a minority stake in Rajasthan Royals for a few years before but they parted their ways after the betting allegations, which even led to the franchise being suspended for a period of two years.

Both Deepika and Ranveer are great sports enthusiasts. In fact, the Om Shanti Om actor was an athlete par excellence herself and played badminton at the national level before moving to modelling and eventually acting.

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The base price for each of the teams has been fixed at Rs 2,000 crore and only those companies or consortiums that have an annual turnover of Rs 3,000 crore are allowed to participate in the bidding process.

That’s why when the news broke out, it raised a few eyebrows as fans couldn’t understand how could this possibly be true because as per Forbes Celebrity 100 List of 2019, their combined annual earning was estimated to be around 166.2 crore.

© Instagram/Ranveer Singh

But more than that, most fans began wondering what their kit would look like. Ranveer Singh is known for his unique style sense and some people joked that if indeed wins the bidding, then he might make some wholesome changes to the jersey of his team. The weirdest of all suggestions was that he might force his players to wear a lungi or a skirt instead of track pants.

Ranveer lower ki jagah lungi na pehenwa de

— Rahul Choubey (@rahulchoubey85) October 22, 2021

This one clear pic.twitter.com/IuvrvcDh4o

— 𝓐𝓲𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓖𝓾𝔂 and 100 others (@DevilNotFound9) October 22, 2021

Jerseys already decided pic.twitter.com/1tUe2oQ75v

— Dr. Sam #TakeTheShot (@TheDrSammy) October 22, 2021

Jerseys of Players if they win the Bid pic.twitter.com/6FSyAT7T63

— Cric Art (@cric_art_) October 22, 2021

With lehngaa

— Hetashree Raval (@justhatemeplz) October 22, 2021

Now I am keenly interested to see their kit of ipl 2022 . Expecting some ranveer singh's stuff .

— Steven (@anonymous___333) October 22, 2021

Track ki jagah ghagra pehen ke aayege players.

— Aadicasm (@SarcasmBhaika) October 22, 2021

Team name Royal ghaghra ??

— AaYuu (@A_BrahminGirlll) October 22, 2021

Inspired by Kapil Dev in Cred ad..

— Shukla Ji (@Shuks80) October 22, 2021

Guys, which one will be their Team jersy among these 3 pic.twitter.com/wbbC4TYH3J

— Imsantoshhhh (@Santoshmohan174) October 22, 2021

As per an NDTV report, the two new IPL franchises could be based out of Ahmedabad and Lucknow, with their home grounds being Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, Gujarat and Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow, UP.

Nothing has been officially confirmed yet but things will be clear in a few days’ time as the cities the two new teams will be based out of are likely to be revealed on October 25 (Monday), and the names of the successful bidders will be also announced on the very same day.

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