Melbourne, Jan 28 (ANI): Lachlan Murdoch has emerged as the mystery figure behind a successful 67 million dollars bid for one of the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchises.

He has beaten a long list of celebrity bidders to emerge as the mystery buyer of an Indian Premier League cricket franchise.

Murdoch teamed with the London firm Emerging Media to buy the Jaipur franchise in the Twenty20 Premier League.

Earlier, he had announced his intention to privatise Consolidated Media Holdings in partnership with James Packer.

The 67 million dollars purchase price was the lowest of all the franchises.

“That is my home team, and we are obviously delighted with the result,” said Lalit Modi, Chairman of the IPL.

I have been in regular email contact with Lachlan throughout the (bidding) process, and he has big plans for the Jaipur team. Some other Australians had expressed some interest, but Lachlan was the leader,” he added.

The IPL made headlines recently when 11 top Australian players were attracted by the lucrative contracts offered, rumoured to be as much as one million dollar for just a few weeks of cricket.

Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds were all linked to the competition.

Murdoch’s bidding partner, Emerging Media, has made several moves into Indian cricket, including the reality programme Cricket Star.

The inaugural IPL will be played in April, news.com.au reported. (ANI)

• Andrew Symonds