CSK, RR owners not invited for BCCI working body meet on IPL verdict

Owners and representatives of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals will not be invited when the BCCI’s four-member working group, formed to study the Justice Lodha panel’s verdict relating to the IPL 2013 corruption scandal, meets to discuss options to for IPL 9. However, the committee will meet the remaining six franchises on 6 and 7 August in Mumbai. The working group comprising of Rajeev Shukla, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, former captain Sourav Ganguly, and Board’s legal counsel Usha Nath Bannerjee, already met once in New Delhi. [caption id=“attachment_2378780” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Chennai Super Kings players. Sportzpics[/caption] “As of now, we are not inviting them (CSK and RR). We are not going to take any decision that might send a wrong signal. The BCCI will not take any risk by inviting them. As of now we are trying to tackle the situation that has come up due to the teams in question,” a working group member told Hindustan Times. The Board had given the committee six weeks’ time to draw up a roadmap for the IPL after the Justice Lodha committee suspended the owners of the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals Gurunath Maiyappan and Raj Kundra while banning the franchises for two years last month. “There are some other reasons for the BCCI not wanting any interaction with the banned teams. Look at CSK, it has changed its ownership. Now, some trust will return to the team. But at the moment we don’t know who the owner is and who do we talk to,” the working group member added. After the first meeting, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said that the sponsors are fully backing the board. “We have started meeting all the stakeholders from today. Today the representatives of Yes Bank came and met the members of the working group. Yes Bank is one of our sponsors. Similarly we will meet other sponsors and also speak to them about how to make IPL 9 a success,” IPL governing council chairman Rajeev Shukla, who is also heading the working group, said. After this round in Delhi, the working group will move to Mumbai. “In Mumbai we plan to meet at least four franchise owners. We have set the ball rolling. We have to discuss all the possibilities about new teams and future of players,” he added. Asked if the sponsors are wary because of the controversies surrounding the T20 tournament, he said, “Absolutely not. Sponsors are fully behind us. They are bullish.” On the contentious issue of conflict of interest, Shukla said, “Our president has also issued a statement. All required steps will be taken.” Asked if the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals will need to pay franchise fee during the two years that they are suspended, he said, “No, they don’t need to pay anything. Neither do they pay anything to us nor do we have to pay anything to them.” Asked about the working group’s views on having two new teams for IPL, Shukla said, “We don’t have any views right now. Once we talk to all stakeholders we would then put forward our viewpoint.” With inputs from PTI