MRF among prospective buyers as Srinivasan gets ready to offload CSK

Beleaguered BCCI president N Srinivasan is already making plans to transfer his shares of IPL (Indian Premier League) team Chennai Super Kings to another party. IPL Chairman Ranjib Biswal has already said that plans for IPL 8 are in full swing despite the future of Srinivasan and CSK hanging in balance — but things may change during this year’s auction. [caption id=“attachment_1522347” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  CSK in action during IPL 7. BCCI[/caption] A Mumbai Mirror report says that the auction was pushed back a week in February and this could mean a change in ownership patterns. It also names two parties who could be interested in buying CSK — Chennai-based builder Varun Manian and the Mammens of MRF. Firstpost had earlier reported that Srinivasan will sell off his stake in CSK in the next two weeks, and file an affidavit in court, declaring that there is no longer any conflict of interest post the stake sale.Reports also said that the sale process could go through quickly as Srinivisan may have already identified a potential buyer. And given that the demerger was approved as early as September 2014, the sale process may not take too much time since several formalities have already been dealt with. There are still a lot of questions to be answered before the start of the yearly cricket extravaganza. The obvious one is Srinivasan and India Cements’ involvement in the league via their team CSK — and the other involves Raj Kundra’s team Rajasthan Royals. The Supreme Court earlier found Kundra and Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan guilty of betting during the tournament. While the SC-appointed three-member committee decide on the fates of the two teams and their owners, the IPL auction and workshop will aim to throw light on how the tournament will be affected depending on the verdict. However, an official of a franchise has been quoted in the report as saying that the two teams should be expected to play in the eighth IPL edition. “They have not told us anything about the players of the two teams. So we can assume that these two teams will be taking part in the IPL 8 at least,” the source said. Click here to read the full Mumbai Mirror report.