Said Modi: “Bollywood and cricket are two things that sell in India. And we have been able to combine the two.”

And it’s this promise that saw a keen tussle between the corporates to own the Mumbai team — eventually Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries got the franchise for $111.9 million making it the most expensive team in the IPL. It is learnt that among the contenders for Mumbai were Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies, Anil Ambani’s ADA Group, Future Group and Videocon.

THE TEAMS

• Delhi — GMR Holdings at $ 84m

• Mumbai — RIL Pvt Ltd (Mukesh Ambani) at $ 111.9m

• Chennai — India Cements (N Srinivasan) at $ 91m

• Bangalore — UB Group (Vijay Mallya) at $ 111.6m

• Mohali — Preity Zinta (Bollywood actress), Ness Wadia (Bombay Dyeing), Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group) and Mohit Burman (Dabur) at $ 76m

• Jaipur — Emerging Media (Manoj Badale, Lachlan Murdoch and investors) at $ 67m

• Hyderabad — Deccan Chronicle at $ 107.1m

• Kolkata — Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta at $ 75.09m

The world’s biggies

Soccer clubs

• Manchester United — $1.5b

• Real Madrid — $ 1.04b NFL (US)

•Dallas Cowboys — $1.5b NBA

•NewYork Knicks— valuation $608m, Major League Baseball

•New York Yankees $1.2b Nascar

•Roush Fenway Racing — $316m NHL (Ice Hockey)

•Torronto Mapel Leafs — $413m