Gujarat is a franchise cricket team based in Ahmedabad, that will play in the Indian T20 League for the first time starting in the 2022 season. Founded in 2021, the team will play its home matches at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera. The franchise is owned
by CVC Capital Partners.
The team was led by Hardik Pandya in the first two seasons and Ashish Nehra was trusted to do the job of coaching the team. The Governing Council of the Indian T20 League invited to tender for two new sides in August 2021. A total of 22 companies declared an interest, but with a high base price for the new teams, there were no more than six serious bidders. The Board of Cricket Control in India allowed a consortium of three companies or individuals to bid for each franchise. CVC Capital Partners, a British private equity and investment advisory firm, won the rights to operate the Ahmedabad franchise with a bid of INR 5,625 crores.
Ahead of the 2022 mega auction, the franchise drafted Hardik Pandya as their captain. They also picked Shubman Gill and Rashid Khan in the squad. During the auction, they went on to purchase other marquee players such as Jason Roy, David Miller and Mohammed Shami who have all had a lot of experience in this League and format. Gujarat also purchased some new stars on the rise including Dominic Drakes and Alzarri Joseph from the West Indies and Rahul Tewatia who has been performing brilliantly over the last two editions of the tournament.
The coaching staff of Gujarat includes a couple of big names, their head coach is the former Indian pace bowler Ashish Nehra and their batting coach, also their mentor is Gary Kirsten who famously coached India to World Cup glory in 2011 on home soil. The team found immediate success and went on to lift the Indian T20 League trophy in its first season in 2022 and finished as runners-up in the next edition. Ahead of the 2024 season, skipper Hardik Pandya was traded to Mumbai and Shubman Gill was appointed as the new captain of the side.
