Dubai. Gujarat Lions, owned by Intex Technologies, is the new team that will play in the oncoming Indian Premier League (IPL). They have picked the cream of top allrounders and is expected to create waves under Suresh Raina’s captaincy. Sanjay Bansal, one of the four brothers who own Intex Group, is based in Dubai. In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, Sanjay spoke at length about how they went about to own an IPL team and has shaped it for the challenges.
You have a good pick of players. What was the thinking behind getting players like Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo and James Faulkner?
Being the first-timers for the IPL we were looking to get the best of players atleast in the core team. We wanted to get Mahendra Singh Dhoni as well, which we could not manage, but the rest five are good allrounders. So we thought let us have allrounders and have a balanced team by including some youngsters. You may have seen in the auction that we have gone for players who come from the younger generation, those who have fire in them to achieve something, youngsters who are keen to achieve something for themselves, especially players with a lot of craving. So our core team will be made up of those five players.
You may have loved to have Raina and Dhoni playing for you as they have been an inseparable pair for Chennai Super Kings for a long span. How did you handle this situation?
We all knew from the beginning that we can have only either Raina or Dhoni. We are happy that we have got Raina because we know him very well. He is a gentleman with tremendous enthusiasm. Immediately on being picked, Raina told us that he will get the Cup for us. He is a player with his feet on the ground and does not behave like a top star. In the few meetings we had with him, he made us feel he is one like us. As much as we are wanting to achieve something special in this IPL, so is Raina too.
What prompted your franchise to appoint Raina as the captain? Is it because you feel he could be India’s future limited over cricket captain?
Lately we have seen that he is performing wonderfully well in all T20 formats. He has been the best performer and the highest scorer in IPL and so we thought he is the apt person to be leading the team.
Your top order seem to be very strong, probably the best in IPL. Was it to ensure a good start in all matches that you made the top order extremely strong?
When the core team players were being picked we decided to get the best five. After that we went for good youngsters. To have that balance, we went for very good openers and top order batsmen. Remember, this is our first experience and we will have to do a few mix and matches and see what is good for us. This will also be our chance to know how the foreign players will be adapting.
You picked a mystery bowler in 20-year-old Shivil Kaushik. So are you willing to experiment with the youngsters too?
We have even taken a 17-year-old boy in Ishan Kishan, a wicketkeeper from Bihar. So we are looking for youngsters who possess the fire in them to do something. Our team will be taken care by my nephew Keshav Bansal, who is 23 years old. Intex is the owner of the team and we are four brothers who own it but Keshav will be the face of our team. He follows the game very well and wanted youngsters to mix with the top players as there will be more fire and energy on the field. The only player who is a bit old is veteran Pravin Tambe. So that makes it a good mix of young [players] and experience.
Do you think getting into IPL is a good decision from your business point of view?
We have been sponsors of IPL for many years now. While being sponsors of IPL we came to know that this is a tournament of the masses and we as a company wanted to attach with the masses. We knew this is a platform which can attach us with the masses. Becoming a team was a very abrupt decision we were actually discussing to be the sponsors again when Keshav came up with this idea to become a team as soon as we heard two teams are going to be dropped. We are basically from Rajasthan but we had no plan to choose Rajasthan. We had a few choices like Pune and a few South Indian states but we had no connections in those states. In Gujarat we had lot of connections hence we opted for it. We got very good response from Gujarat and even people in UAE. We are gaining huge facebook and twitter responses. People are talking about our team, name and jersey.
Why did you name your team after Lions and how did the name Gujarat Lions emerge?
Lions are known for strength. Gujarat is known for its Lions especially in the Gir forest. So like Kerala, which is known for elephants, named their team Kochi Tuskers, we opted for this name. We had option of four to five names but we went online and this name was selected through an online poll.
Your team can be in the IPL for only two years as they say. Is it a dampener or you are hopeful that your team may get an extension?
We are keen enthusiasts. Right now we are very excited that we will be in the IPL for atleast two years and for sure I think they (BCCI) may opt for more teams. If the results are in favour we may surely be in the IPL for more years. When we started getting into this itself we knew it is going to be only for two years and so we took it in a positive way and decided to gain the experience. So once we gain the experience, we can carry forward.
How did you go about finalising the team management?
Our coach Brad Hodge is very enthusiastic and I had few meetings with him when he came here for the Masters Champions League. He was with us during the auction and the greatest advantage is that he has very good understanding with Raina. Our CEO Arvinder Singh is very experienced and was CEO with Kings XI Punjab. We also have the experienced Heath Streak as bowling coach.
So in short, what is your aim and vision?
Our aim in getting associated with the IPL was to get associated with the masses. Now we are getting the feel that by becoming an IPL team masses are also getting connected with us. People are all waiting for the event to happen whereby we will have more engagements with the people. For us it is a branding exercise and this will give us a global presence but most important is to make a mark by winning the cup.
