Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals may get terminated

CSK and RR might get the pink slips from BCCI

In the light of the verdict by the Supreme court appointed Lodha committee, BCCI had formed its own working group to understand the impact and ramifications of the verdict and present its finding to the IPL governing council. It appears that BCCI is mulling over the termination of the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals’s contract, as per a report in Time of India.

A new auction could be held to add 2 new teams in the league. The only thing which is bothering BCCI is the legal backlash by CSK and RR. As per the verdict both the teams cannot participate in IPL for next two years, at the same time, both are free to challenge the same in the court.

BCCI has been issuing mixed signals on this matter. On August 29 the IPL governing council will deliberate on the Lodha committee judgement taking into account the report from the working group and legal team.Only then, will the final picture be clear.

According to Anurag Thakur, secretary BCCI,"Termination is a very much an option, as much as auctioning two new teams is.”

At the same time, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla doesn’t seem to be on the same page as Thakur as far as termination is concerned. Shukla was quoted as, “We haven't formed an opinion on that. It can have legal ramifications, even the Lodha Committee hasn't recommended that”.

For BCCI to balance the judgement with the aspiration of sponsors, team owners and advertisers will be a tough task. In order to keep all the stakeholders in the loop, the working group has been in consultation with all concerned parties.

Team owners and executives of the Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils met the working group led by Shukla on Wednesday, earlier this week.

On Saturday, at a suburban hotel in Mumbai, another meeting was held with three franchise owners, central sponsors, broadcasters and other important entities. Ness Wadia and Preity Zinta, co -owners of the Kings XI Punjab were present. Nikhil Meswani from the Reliance Industries Limited filled in for the Mumbai Indian owners. Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, participated via video-conferencing in the meeting. RPG group (central sponsor), broadcasters MSM India and Star TV also held consultations with the 5-member working group. It is worthwhile to mention that Sourav Ganguly is also the part of this group.

On the question of the number of teams for the IPL, majority of the owners, it has appeared, are in favour of 8 playing teams and not 6. Ness Wadia was pretty vocal against the suggestion that foreign teams should be allowed to play.

“One year there are eight teams, next year ten teams and then eight again. It cannot happen that way," Wadia said. "I also categorically feel that foreign teams should not be invited. It's the Indian Premier League so why have foreign teams? The Champions League was discontinued because there are no takers for these foreign teams. Foreign players in IPL are fine”, he added. As quoted by Times of India.

Of late IPL has been tainted with a lot of bunglings. From the Lalit Modi scandal and his eventual termination to the recent match-fixing allegations, it has not been an easy journey. In order to maintain the interest of the quintessential cricket fan in the country, BCCI needs to take some concrete steps to salvage the reputation of the league as well as the game. Hope they are up to the task.