Who is Gujarat Titans owner? Know who owns the Ahmedabad IPL team

Overseas equity firm CVC Capital Partners are the Gujarat Titans owner after they had sealed the deal with an INR 5,625 crore bid ahead of IPL 2022.

Gujarat Titans’ owners’ names are Steve Koltes, Donald Mackenzie, and Rolly van Rappard. They have a majority stake in the franchise. The trio is well known for their investments and getting into one of the most profitable sports leagues was a no-brainer. They have invested in United Rugby Championship and Rugby Union League as well among other deals.

The major talking point ahead of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was including the new Ahmedabad IPL team and Lucknow franchise. For the first time since 2011, the league had included 10 teams to compete in it.

In October 2021, the BCCI invited investors from across the globe to partake in the auction for these two franchises. While the RPSG Group, formerly the owners of the Rising Pune Supergiant, sealed the deal with a staggering INR 7,090 crore bid for the Lucknow franchise, the Gujarat Titans (GT) owner CVC Capital Partners won the other bid. There were a lot of big players who were interested in buying a team including the Adani group but these two eventually won the deal.

Gujarat Titans Owner – CVC Capital Partners

Gujarat Titans owner CVC Capital Partners are a British private equity and investment firm with over $75 billion total assets. CVC Capital Partners’ foundation stones were laid by the popular banking firm Citicorp, which wanted to establish an investment firm. Although Citicorp’s venture capital investments started in 1968, CVC Capital Partners as a separate entity was formed in 1981. 

Over the years, it became one of the biggest investment firms in Europe and expanded its wings in Asia as well. Some notable names take shelter under the CVC group, including popular IT security company “Avast”, luxury watch-makers Breitling SA, one of Britain’s leading automobile companies “RAC” and pet supplies retail chain “Petco”. 

They seemed adamant to be involved with the Indian Premier League once the BCCI opened tenders, and made an INR 5,625 crore bid to seal the deal. However, a major stumbling block needed to be cleared before the Ahmedabad franchise could start any of its early operations. 

Tipico, a world-renowned sports betting and gambling organization, is a CVC Capital Partners portfolio company. The objection was primarily raised on social media by former IPL chairman Lalit Modi, who pointed out that one of the bidders has a major investment in a betting company, which was bound to raise a conflict of interest considering the history of this tournament. 

The private equity firm was given time to provide an explanation by the BCCI and they, later on, confirmed that Tipico is a part of the CVC group’s European wing, and will remain totally independent and disconnected from CVC’s Asian wing, which made the investment on Gujarat Titans. The BCCI deemed their participation valid after a thorough investigation and they announced the team name just a few days before the auction. 

History of Gujarat Titans in IPL

Year	Matches	Won	Where they finished	Highest run scorer	Highest wicket taker
2022	16	12	Winners	Hardik Pandya – 487	Mohammed Shami – 20
2023	17	11	Runner-up	Shubman Gill – 890	Mohammed Shami – 28
2024	14	5	Eighth position	Sai Sudharsan – 527	Mohit Sharma – 13

This isn’t the first time the state of Gujarat has seen an IPL representation. However, the previously involved team, Gujarat Lions, came in as a replacement for just two years when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended for two years. The franchise was based out of Rajkot, and is currently defunct. 

Just the way it happened in the case of Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad, both these franchises will have no link to each other and any of the Rajkot-based franchise’s records will not be added to the Gujarat Titans. 

Gujarat Titans Team Players 2022

Once the franchise was allowed to commence its operations, they confirmed Ashish Nehra as the head coach and Vikram Solanki as the Director of Cricket. Former Indian head coach Gary Kirsten, who led the side to a World Cup triumph in 2011, was appointed batting coach and mentor for the franchise. They made Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as their home.

Gujarat Titans signed up Mumbai Indians star Hardik Pandya as their first major signing, and gobbled up two other brilliant players later on. Young Indian opener Shubman Gill, and the global T20 icon Rashid Khan, were Gujarat’s other two drafts before they entered the auction. They were off to a solid start with these acquisitions and picked up some good players in the auction as well. 

They acquired the services of talismanic Indian seam bowler Mohammed Shami for a bargain price, and also garnered the services of some noteworthy names like Matthew Wade, Lockie Ferguson, David Miller, Vijay Shankar and a host of amazing young Indian talents like Darshan Nalkande, Abhinav Sadrangani, R Sai Kishore and others. 

Batters – Shubman Gill, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Sadrangani, Sai Sudarshan

Wicket-keepers – Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade

All-rounders – Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh, Dominic Drakes, Hardik Pandya (C)

Bowlers – Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Sai Kishore, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Aaron, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan

With such a strong core, it was no surprise that Gujarat Titans immediately became one of the most valuable IPL team, and in their very first season ended up winning the IPL trophy. They made quite a lot of noise in their maiden IPL tournament, which saw them make a historic debut among all IPL franchises.

Gujarat Titans performance in IPL 2023

After such a strong start to their IPL, it was all but obvious that all eyes would be on Titans in the second season and they proved that their first-season win was no joke. Gujarat Titans once again came out all guns firing and finished the season at the top of the table with ten wins in 14 games. In the first qualifier, they came up against Chennai Super Kings, but lost. However, they gathered themselves and defeated Rajasthan Royals in the second qualifier by a hefty margin. Then in a pulsating final, they almost had their one hand on the trophy but Ravindra Jadeja pulled a rabbit out of the hat by smashing a six and four off the last two balls to give CSK a win.

Gujarat Titans performance in IPL 2024

There was a lot of commotion in the lead up to the IPL 2024 season for Gujarat Titans. Their captain for two years made a surprise move back to Mumbai Indians, which made Titans appoint Shubman Gill as their new skipper. He did not have the best of times leading the side and Titans finished a lowly eighth on the points table with just five wins in 14 games.

FAQs

How many times have Gujarat Titans won IPL?

Gujarat Titans won the IPL in 2022 and qualified for the final in 2023.

Who is the captain of Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025?

Shubman Gill is the captain of Gujarat Titans for IPL 2025.

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