When
Salman
Khan
went
to
Chennai
to
bid
for
a
new
IPL
team
(Pune)
yesterday,
he
was
confident
he
would
return
as
a
team
owner.
But
it
wasn't
meant
to
be.
Says
a
source,
"Salman
was
so
confident
of
winning
the
bid
that
he
had
even
planned
a
celebratory
party
on
Sunday
night
for
which
he'd
called
people
over." Invites
to
the
party
went
out
on
Saturday
itself.
Even
Saif
Ali
Khan
and
Kareena
Kapoor
bid
for
the
Pune
team,
but
Sahara
Adventure
Sports
Group
snapped
up
the
city
as
the
highest
bidder
with
$370
million
(Rs
1,702
crore).
Kerala-based
consortium
Rendezvous
Sports
bid
$333.33
million
(Rs
1,333.33
crore)
to
get
Kochi
as
the
other
franchisee
to
make
the
IPL
a
10-team
affair
from
2011.
Interestingly,
Katrina
Kaif
was
also
there
but
she
was
not
bidding
with
Salman.
In
fact,
she
was
representing
the
Adani
Group
from
Ahmedabad
which
was
bidding
for
Pune
as
well.
Sources
close
to
the
actor
are
surprised
that
his
bid
didn't
make
the
cut,
"Salman
is
very
upset
and
is
trying
to
figure
out
what
happened
overnight
when
he
lost
the
winning
bid.
He
had
flown
into
Chennai
in
a
private
aircraft.
He
was
very
confident
till
Saturday
night
about
winning
the
bid.
And
is
wondering
if
there
was
foul
play
by
vested
interests.
Namely
to
do
with
star
who
owns
a
team."
Katrina
Kaif
was
also
present
at
the
bidding
process
in
Chennai
yesterday,
raised
a
commotion
when
she
left
with
Salman,
even
though
they
arrived
separately.
She
clarifies,
"I
wasn't
bidding
with
Salman.
I
accompanied
Reshma
who
is
my
close
friend.
Reshma
(from
Matrix)
and
I
had
gone
to
represent
Matrix
who
put
in
a
bid
with
the
Adani
Group.
I
was
not
bidding
at
all.
Salman
had
put
in
a
separate
bid."
Salman
remained
unavailable
for
comment.
Story first published: Monday, March 22, 2010, 14:14 [IST]