The Inside Scoop- Who Said What at IPL’s Governing Council Meeting

Fearing a long-drawn legal battle, the BCCI chose to not terminate any IPL franchise in haste.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur along with IPL governing council chairman RajIv Shukla at the IPL governing council meeting in Mumbai on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

The powers that be in BCCI gathered in Mumbai on Sunday for an emergent IPL Working Committee meeting to decide the way forward after the Lodha Committee suspended CSK and RR for two years.

A lot was expected. Would the two teams be banned from the IPL for good? Was the BCCI going to take over the two teams for the next two season?

But after an hour long meeting, IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla stepped out of the board’s headquarters and in a short media note declared that they had simply decided to pass the buck onto yet another sub committee.

PTI however spoke to an unnamed member of the Governing Council who gave more details of the meeting.

The much-debated possibility of terminating the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals apparently did not find many takers in the meeting, with the exception of former BCCI treasurer and GC member Ajay Shirke.

Ajay (Shirke) was the only person who seemed to be in favour of termination of the two franchises. When he mooted the option of termination, BCCI’s legal cell head Usha Nath Banerjee told him that while that is an option but the far reaching legal ramifications of such a decision should also be kept in mind.
– Senior Governing Council Member to PTI

“The members feel that whatever decision that is taken should be done with due deliberations. There is a worry that if BCCI terminates the franchise in haste and there is a long-drawn legal battle, it might bleed the board,” the official further added.

Team India Director Ravi Shastri, who joined via tele-conference from London, wanted to inquire whether BCCI can adopt the two teams to which he was intimated that the board needs to check whether the ‘Conflict of Interest’ issue arises or not.

It has been learnt that Banerjee, who is the head of the legal cell, will be one of the members of the ‘Working Group’.

It is still not known whether IPL GC chairman Rajiv Shukla will be a part of the group since he is entrusted with the duty of selecting the members of the group.