New Delhi, Feb 2: The latest entrant in the cash rich Indian Premier League, team Rajkot has announced its official name as Gujarat Lions and also declared Suresh Raina as its captain in the ninth edition of the tournament.

The official announcement was made by Intex owner Keshav Bansal at an event here on Tuesday (Feb 2). The team jersey was also unveiled at the event.

Veteran Australian player and a T20 specialist, Brad Hodge, has been named the coach of the new side.

Suresh Raina was picked up by the side for Rs 12.5 crore during the first ever players draft in December last year. 7 Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and 3 Rajasthan Royals (RR) cricketers were picked in the draft.

All rounder Ravindra Jadeja is also a part of the Gujarat Lions. He was picked for Rs 9.5 crore by the franchise.

The team's official Twitter handle is @TheGujaratLions and its Facebook page is https://www.mykhel.com/TheGujaratLions.

Rajkot and Pune were the two new franchises to be formed after the Supreme Court banned Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years for their involvement in spot fixing and betting cases.

Rajkot's bid was won by the Intex Technologies Ltd. while the bid for the Pune franchise was bagged by New Rising.

The star attraction of the draft, MS Dhoni was signed up by the Pune franchise. The draft was held for two new teams - Pune and Rajkot, who replaced the suspended CSK and RR. There were 50 players in the draft and those were not picked (40) will be part of the auction on February 6 in Bengaluru.

OneIndia News