Ahmedabad: JSW Steel chairman Sajjan Jindal on Wednesday confirmed that his group is acquiring an IPL side but stopped short of naming it amid a speculation that the team could be Royal Challengers Bangalore owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
"Cricket is the number one sport in our country so there is an idea to acquire a team, an IPL team. But I cannot comment which team it would be," said Sajjan Jindal, chairman and managing Director of JSW Steel Ltd.
"Moneywise I don't think that is the issue because the idea is that we want to take some credible team so that we can promote sports," Jindal told reporters.
On a specific question of whether the steel giant will indeed buy RCB, Jindal neither denied nor confirmed it, saying "That depends on them (RCB)."
He was here to sign an MoU with the authorities of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad to set up a public policy school. The Bangalore franchise was bought by Mallya in 2008 in the second highest bid for USD 111.6 million.
Speculation is rife that JSW is keen to buy the Virat Kohli-led team. JSW Sports, a JSW Group wing, is the owner of Bengaluru FC, one of the I-league teams led by Indian football team's captain Sunil Chhetri.
Jindal said they will also focus on other sports like kabaddi and hockey. "We will focus on other sports also. We are looking at kabaddi, we are looking at hockey, we also want to go pan-India in various sports through JSW Sports, which is the wing of JSW Group," he said.
Jindal said the company was running clubs that promote various sports. "We have a football team and we are building a village for sports in Karnataka," he added.
