Bollywood just loves cricket

Mumbai: Bollywood film stars and industry leaders paid hundreds of millions of dollars yesterday to buy cricket teams in the upcoming Twenty-20 Indian Premier League.

Ownership of teams for the new league - to be launched in April - was finalised, with teams sold to the highest bidder. India's highest-paid film star Shah Rukh Khan and leading actress Priety Zinta were part of two separate consortiums that bought teams in the IPL.

Khan now features among the owners of the Calcutta team, while Zinta and industrialist Ness Wadia are part of the consortium that will own the Mohali team for the initial 10 years of the IPL.

Eight city teams will compete in the IPL, which will include many of the world's best cricketers. Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani paid the highest price of $111.9 million to buy the Mumbai team. Vijay Mallya's United Breweries Group bought the Bangalore team, for which it bid $111.6 million.