Sanjiv Goenka is the Lucknow IPL team owner. He is the founder and chairman of the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group and had made a successful bid of INR 7090 Crores for Lucknow Super Giants.
The new Lucknow franchise was revealed to be Lucknow Super Giants, representing the state of Uttar Pradesh in the Indian Premier League in 2022. The team is already known by the abbreviation of LSG. They decided to take the fans’ advice and opinions before settling upon the team name. IPL 2022 was debut IPL campaign for the side called Lucknow Super Giants and they were one of the two new teams besides Gujarat Titans.
The official IPL team from Lucknow is now the most expensive IPL franchise in the history of the Indian Premier League. In 2021, the franchise was purchased by the Sanjiv Goenka-owned RPSG group for an amount of Rs 7090 Crores. The bid by the RPSG group for the Lucknow team was over 250% more than BCCI’s base price of INR 2000 Crores for an IPL team. For comparison, CVC Capital Partners acquired the Ahmedabad-based franchise for 5625 Crores.
Lucknow Super Giants play their home matches at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium.
With that being said, let’s discuss more about the Lucknow IPL team owner and the franchise as well.
Lucknow IPL team owner: Who is Sanjiv Goenka?
One of the richest people in the country, Sanjiv Goenka is an Indian businessman and the chairman and founder of the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group. He is the son of famous Indian entrepreneur Rama Prasad Goenka who had founded and managed the conglomerate giant RPG Group. Sanjiv is the younger son and he also has a brother Harsh Goenka, who currently manages the RPG Group.
In April 2001, Sanjiv Goenka took over as the youngest-ever President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He was also the president of All India Management Institute (AIMA), and a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry.
Forbes Magazine places Sanjiv Goenka as the 80th richest person in India with a net worth of $2.8 billion as of January 2022. The flagship of the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group is the 123-year-old power utility, CESC, which Goenka has restructured into four separate companies.
The RP Sanjiv Goenka Group which is managed by Sanjiv Goenka are no strangers to being franchise owners in the Indian Premier League. In 2016 and 2017, they owned the franchise from Pune called the Rising Pune Supergiants when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were banned from the IPL because of involvement in match-fixing and owner-related controversy.
Lucknow IPL team owner: What is the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group?
The RP Sanjiv Goenka Group (also known as RPSG Group) is an Indian multinational business conglomerate based out of Kolkata. Established by Sanjiv Goenka, the younger son of Rama Prasad Goenka, on 13 July 2011, the group is pretty diversified and deals in various sectors. These include power and energy, carbon black manufacturing, retail to IT-enabled services, FMCG, agriculture, and infrastructure among others. Some popular brands of the franchise include power major CESC Limited, music label SaReGaMa India Limited, and multi-format retailer company Spencer’s Retail. The group has a revenue of ₹26,900 crores (US$3.6 billion) in 2020 with a total assets value of ₹47,405 crores (US$6.3 billion).
Rising Pune Supergiants and the new IPL side from Lucknow aren’t the only major sporting investments in the company’s history. They are also the co-owners of the popular football club ATK Mohun Bagan which formed as a merger between ISL side ATK Kolkata, owned by Sanjiv Goenka, and the historic legacy club from Kolkata, Mohun Bagan. Following the merger and acquisition, Mohun Bagan made the transition to the Indian Super League and have won one ISL title.
The RPSG group had earlier ventured into other sports as well, including table tennis. However, after a successful and brief stint in the Indian Premier League, Goenka had expressed his interest to make a comeback to cricket.
As discussed before, the group had already owned an IPL team from Pune several years before. However, the stint was short-lived as Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were reinstated back into the league in 2018.
While dissolving Rising Pune Supergiant, the Kolkata-based business tycoon had revealed that he would again purchase a team “whenever there would be an opportunity”, according to several media reports. This year, RP Sanjiv Goenka’s dream has come true once again.
Lucknow IPL team owner: The business opportunity
Speaking to a reputed media organization, Sanjiv Goenka revealed that he believes that Lucknow Super Giants is going to be worth nearly $2 billion over the next couple of years.
“The way I run businesses is very simple. We decide the key factors and key business for every business every month. I believe this is a business opportunity that will be worth about $2 billion over two years. I treat it just the way I would treat any other business,” Goenka said confidently.
When asked about why he decided to spend over Rs 7000 crores on an IPL franchise which was several times over the base price dictated by BCCI, Goenka added, “(With UP’s population of) 26 crore people, we are seeing overwhelming response and support. This season no games will be played at Lucknow but despite that, the way the state is responding and people are connecting is fantastic.”
Lucknow Super Giants: The team
The franchise owners of Luckow had also launched a consumer engagement campaign on social media on January 3 to decide on the name of the new IPL side. Taking into account public opinions, the owners announced by a video message that the team will be called Lucknow Super Giants, and their jersey design and logo were also revealed.
Even before the announcement of the name, Lucknow Super Giants had already made their forays into the league activities. During the draft picks, they decided to buy Indian batter and wicketkeeper KL Rahul, Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and then-uncapped Indian leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
KL Rahul was made captain of the franchise and he joined Virat Kohli as the joint-highest player in IPL history, getting a sum of ₹ 17 crores from LSG, while Stoinis and Bishnoi secured contracts worth nearly ₹ 9.2 crores and ₹ 4 crores respectively.
The franchise also roped in former Indian batter Gautam Gambhir as the team strategist and mentor. Gambhir had won two IPL titles with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 and 2014. Gambhir, however, has quit his role in the team to re-join his old franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, as their mentor. The RP Sanjiv Goenka-led franchise also appointed Andy Flower as the team’s head coach.
The Lucknow franchise made it to the playoffs in both IPL 2022 and 2023, and will be looking to reach the final in 2024.
Lucknow Super Giants Full squad for IPL 2024
KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Mohd. Arshad Khan.
FAQs
What was the price paid by the Lucknow IPL team owner?
Lucknow IPL team owner Sanjiv Goenka spent a whopping Rs 7,090 crore to acquire the rights for the franchise and set the record for the most expensive franchise bid in the history of the Indian Premier League.
Who is the coach of the Lucknow IPL team?
Former cricketer and renowned Zimbabwean cricket coach Andy Flower is the head coach of the Lucknow Super Giants team in IPL 2022. Vijay Dahiya is the assistant coach while Andy Bichel and Richard Halsall are the bowling and fielding coaches respectively. Gautam Gambhir is also the consultant and mentor of the group.
What is the name of the new IPL team from Lucknow?
The new IPL team from Lucknow is called Lucknow Super Giants.
