BackWith CSK, Rajasthan Royals suspended, two new teams likely in IPL 9
BCCI announces setting up of an IPL working group to study the verdict of the Lodha Committee on the spot-fixing and betting scandal
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The next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will have a minimum of eight teams, the chairman of the Twenty20 cricket tournament said on Sunday, as cricket administrators pledged to restore the cricket league to its former glory after a two-year-long spot-fixing and betting scandal probe led to a ban on two of the league’s top teams.
“The show must go on; the value of the league should be enhanced," IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said, reporting on the collective view of the IPL’s governing council, which met on Sunday afternoon. Next year’s IPL, he declared, will be “better than the previous editions".
Shukla’s comments signal the likelihood of the tournament getting two new teams.
With the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) suspended for a period of two years, following the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee’s verdict on Tuesday, the only way forward for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would be to conduct a fresh franchise auction for two new teams.
BCCI member Niranjan Shah said the franchise fee from the two new teams will be around double the $15 million paid by CSK and RR together. “The valuation of the IPL has been rising, two new teams should bring in at least $25-30 million to the board," said Shah.
He said around 10-15 bidders are likely to participate in the auctions for the two new teams.
In a release, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said: “The members recognized that there is an urgent need to understand the impact of this decision and the wider ramifications for BCCI in detail, so as to uphold the paramountcy of the game in our country."
Also on Sunday, the BCCI announced the setting up of an IPL working group to study the verdict of the Lodha Committee. The group will report its recommendations to the IPL governing council within six weeks.
Shukla told reporters: “We will implement the verdict of the (Lodha) committee in toto and, whatever is recommended, we will implement them in toto. We respect the verdict, and we are going to act accordingly."
Shukla said the five-member working group “will also give its recommendations on the future conduct of the IPL, the options available to the BCCI, how many teams will play". He said that the views of “all our stakeholders, including the cricket advisory committee, sponsors, broadcasters, state associations and legal experts" will be taken into consideration.
In keeping with BCCI protocol, the report of the working group will be referred to the governing council and later put before the BCCI working committee, the Indian cricket board’s highest decision-making body, for ratification.
The report will also suggest ways to improve the image of the board. Shukla said, “For us, the game is paramount and that’s our basic rule."
The members of the working group will be announced on Monday.
According to people familiar with the matter in the BCCI, the working group will likely comprise Shukla, two members of the governing council—Jyotiraditya Scindia and Ajay Shirke—BCCI secretary Thakur and the BCCI’s chief legal advisor, Usha Nath Banerjee.
Shirke, president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association, was the treasurer of the BCCI when the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal first came to light in May 2013. Later that month, Shirke resigned from his post protesting the BCCI’s handling of the case.
Scindia, who is president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, was among the first BCCI members to openly call for then BCCI president N. Srinivasan’s resignation, after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested for alleged involvement in betting-related activities. Meiyappan was suspended for life on Tuesday by the Lodha Committee.
A few cricket administrators, requesting anonymity, said at least two names doing the rounds for the proposed working group are in favour of terminating the CSK and RR franchises, which would allow others to bid for the two franchises.
By appointing a working group to study the Lodha Committee verdict and seeking its report in six weeks’ time, it appears that the BCCI is adopting a wait-and-watch approach in relation to the actions of the franchises involved—whether they will approach the Supreme Court to appeal the Lodha Committee’s verdict.
According to the Press Trust of India, Shirke raised the termination of the two suspended franchises at Sunday’s meeting.
Shah added, “It’s possible that the BCCI will appoint two new teams and then terminate the CSK and Rajasthan Royals permanently."
Vidhi Choudhary in New Delhi contributed to this story.
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