GC divided as Shastri bats for Super Kings, Royals
Sun, Jul 19 2015 , by Gaurav Gupta
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Before it formed a 'working group' to study the Lodha Commission's verdict and come up with recommendations, the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council (GC) meeting on Sunday did see a heated debate on the termination of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), who have been suspended for two years by the Lodha Commission following allegations of betting by their franchise owners.
"The option of termination of these franchises was raised by Ajay Shirke (former BCCI treasurer). However, it was opposed by former all-rounder and Team India director Ravi Shastri. Incidentally, both Shastri and Shirke had joined the meeting on Skype from London. Arguing CSK and Royals' case vehemently, Shastri said that both the teams had contributed to the IPL brand big time over the years. He argued why should the players, or the support staff, say a reputed ex-cricketer like Rahul Dravid (a mentor of Rajasthan Royals) suffer because of the (alleged) misdeeds of (Gurunath) Meiyappan and (Raj) Kundra," a source who attended the meet, told TOI on Sunday .
However, Shastri's logic was categorically dismissed by Board secretary Anurag Thakur. "The secretary shot back saying that the Board didn't think along these lines while terminating the contracts of Kochi Tuskers, Pune Warriors and other franchises in the past. Where was player interest back then? Clearly , Thakur has a strong view on this issue," said the source. "His point was simple: `Why should we decide that we don't want to terminate the teams now itself. This call must be left to the working group."
On the GC decision to form a 'working group' to study the Lodha Committee verdict a member said, "Clearly, the decision to form a working group was taken by a few people before the meeting itself."
Other members, however, defended Sunday's decision."We don't want to act in haste, and end up in a Kochi-type situation. We have learnt from the past (bitter) experiences in this regard. It is better to take a collective decision, with proper legal opinion, before going ahead with anything like this. The Lodha Commission hasn't terminated, but suspended these teams. We can't be going one step beyond this decision, which, remember, was taken by the SC-appointed committee after a six-month deliberation. There's no point in hanging the same man for the same offence twice. As for auctioning two new teams, we want to take on board the views of the other franchises on this, too, since they too would be affected by it," said a member.
It is also learnt that in the meeting, IPL COO Sundar Raman felt that a "10-team IPL in 2018, (in case the Board auctioned two new teams), wasn't a feasible idea, since it would be a logistical nightmare." Raman's point was, however, cut short by Shirke."You (Raman) have been a part of 10-team IPLs in the past too," said Shirke. The 2011 IPL involved 10 teams.
© TNN
