Kochi franchise terminated by BCCI

	Kochi Tuskers Kerala will not be part of future IPLs © AFP

The Kochi Tuskers Kerala IPL franchise has been terminated by the BCCI for breaching its terms of agreement, the new board president N Srinivasan has said after the annual general meeting in Mumbai.

"Because of the irremediable breach committed by the Kochi franchise, the BCCI has decided to encash the bank guarantee [for 2010] in its possession and also terminate the franchise," Srinivasan said. When asked if Kochi had any chance of returning, Srinivasan responded: "No, we have terminated the franchise because the breach is not capable of being remedied."

The trigger for the decision was the franchise's inability to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011. Under the terms of the franchise agreement, each franchise has to submit a bank guarantee every year that covers the fee payable to the BCCI. "We waited for six months for the fresh bank guarantee to come," a top BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. "They kept saying they will, they will, they will. That had no meaning."

According to the official Shashank Manohar, who stepped down as BCCI president at the AGM, had told Kochi's owners that in case they needed an extension, they should send a letter signed by all the owners stating they would fulfill their commitments under the franchise agreement or the BCCI could encash the bank guarantee. The franchise had assured Manohar they would send the letter the same evening.

"The last president [Manohar] said that that if you want an extension of two to three days or more, you give us a letter signed by all the owners saying that we undertake to pay the guarantee money by such and such a date," the official said. "And if we fail to do that we have no objection to the bank guarantee to be encashed by the BCCI."

The official said the Kochi owners sent a "simple letter" that did not include all the details Manohar had asked for and so the board took the decision to terminate the franchise. "[These] things do not work. It is even unfair to the other franchises."

According to the official, the BCCI was not worried about Kochi going to court because it was the franchise that had defaulted. As for the players, they are likely to go back into the auction. "And in case the players' dues are not paid, we would ensure that it is paid from the bank guarantee money we encash."

The chairman of Kochi, Mukesh Patel, however, denied that the franchise owed the board any money. "The BCCI notice is wrong, prima facie," he told PTI. "We will take legal action against them after our legal team reviews the case in a day or two. Maybe we have to move court. We have never defaulted. The BCCI will be paying us Rs 12 to 15 crore ($2.5 million to $3.13 million) next month as a part of our central revenue."

The franchise's dispute centres on the BCCI's decision to reduce the number of IPL games from 94 to 74. "The number of games in Tender Document was 94; they then reduced it to 74 but did not reduce the franchise fees."

The BCCI also appointed Rajiv Shukla as the new IPL chairman, succeeding Chirayu Amin, and said that the league's governing council would take a decision on whether to have another auction for a new franchise. With Kochi's termination, the ten-team competition will be reduced to nine.

The consortium that owns Kochi is reported to have defaulted on an annual payment of Rs 156 crores as a bank guarantee. In April 2010, the BCCI's working committee had rejected demands from Kochi and Pune Warriors for a reduction in their franchisee fees. The two new franchises, which made their debuts in 2011, had sought a 25% waiver on the grounds that the BCCI had stated in the bidding document that each team would play 18 league matches in a season. The schedule was later reduced to 14 matches per team.

The two teams already paid 75% of this year's installment and wanted the balance waived. They argued the reduction in matches was a breach of the terms of the Invitation to Tender the BCCI had issued before the two new teams were bought. Since they had based their bid on the number of matches to be played, a reduction should therefore be accompanied by a reduction in the franchise fee. However, the BCCI voted to turn down the request at its meeting in Mumbai in April.

In March 2010, the Sahara group had bid $370 million to became owners of the Pune franchise while a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World offered $333.33 million for Kochi. © ESPN EMEA Ltd

Gambhir will be dropped if he is unfit, says BCCI

New Delhi: The Indian cricket board Thursday said Gautam Gambhir will be dropped from the tour to the West Indies if he is found unfit.


In pic: Injured Gambhir (right)

"We are looking into his medical report and he will be dropped from the squad if he is found unfit," board secretary N. Srinivasan told IANS.

Gambhir was appointed captain for the Twenty20 and ODI fixtures for the West Indies tour in absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has been rested.

Captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier league, Gambhir has been advised rest for six weeks to nurse his "sore shoulder" which he was carrying right through the IPL tournament.

He had injured the shoulder during the final of the World Cup against Sri Lanka in April and if he is rested Suresh Raina will be leading the team in the ODI series starting June 4.

Knight Riders' team physio Andrew Leipus, in a letter to the BCCI said that Gambhir needs at least four-six weeks of rest and also asked the board's medical committee to look into the player's injury management.

"The clinical findings supported the mechanism of the onset of the acute injury. However, he did report having corticosteroid injections on two occasions over the previous few years. In the last match, where KKR played MI, Gautam again felt an aggravation of the shoulder pain on one particular throw," Leipus said in his letter.

"On arrival in Mumbai, we thought it was prudent to get both an MRI and a consultation with a leading shoulder orthopaedic surgeon. Both the doctor and myself believe that he should follow an intensive, supervised and conservative rehabilitation pathway. But for the best outcome, he will need to avoid both throwing and batting for a period of 4-6 weeks," the letter said.

"In this regard, I would expect that the BCCI medical committee would need to consider the ongoing management of Gautam's shoulder injury beyond the IPL and the possibility of his missing any immediate future tours until the shoulder is fully rehabilitated," the letter added. — IANS

Surprises unlikely in final World Cup squad

Injuries to top Indian players have made matters interesting ahead of the selection committee meeting for the World Cup, to be held in Chennai on Monday.

A day before the selection of the squad, India on Sunday received a jolt with Sachin Tendulkar returning home from South Africa after pulling a hamstring during the second One-day International on Saturday.

Before this major scare, Virender Sehwag (shoulder injury), Gautam Gambhir (hand injury) and pacer Praveen Kumar (hand injury) have returned home and the selectors would have a lot to ponder over as they pick the 15- member team for the tournament.

Sachin's injury obviously could be a major concern - the BCCI did not provide details while announcing that Parthiv Patel was being flown out to South Africa as his replacement - though a month is still left for India's opening game on February 19 against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Tendulkar has been in ominous form for the last couple of years, and especially in the just- concluded Test series in South Africa. He and Sehwag are the automatic choices for the opening slots with Gambhir next. Even if Sehwag and Gambhir have not fully recovered as yet, they still have more than a month to get fit and thus can be included in the squad.

Murali Vijay, now playing in South Africa, could be a standby as he figures in the 30 probables announced last month. Like the openers, the middle order batsmen, an important area for any team, also pick themselves. There is little doubt about the selection of Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, and skipper MS Dhoni.

But will Rohit Sharma also find a place? Well, that remains to be seen, depending on how many bowlers the selectors pick.
The selection of Rohit could also depend on whether the selectors opt for a second wicketkeeper or take the bold decision to pick only Dhoni. But Parthiv, who has unjustifiably been ignored for the last few years, has suddenly come into the fray with so many injury scares.

Among the pacers, Zaheer Khan remains their spearhead, though it remains to be seen if the injury- prone left- armer doesn't add to the list of injured.

Munaf Patel, Praveen and Ashish Nehra, who is again a bit risky proposition in the longdrawn tournament considering his fitness history, Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma are expected to be the other members of the pace department. But one or two of these may have to make way to accommodate a second spinner.

Among the spinners, offie Harbhajan has no competition. Although R Ashwin, also an offspinner, is in South Africa, there is no guarantee that he would be picked for the World Cup too.

The selectors might want to have some variety and the selection of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for the South Africa series is interesting. Who knows, left- arm spinner Pragyan Ojha might make the grade.

India rules out using review system

The Indian board has categorically ruled out the possibility of India using the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) for the foreseeable future, saying they just don't trust the technology.

"We don't accept this technology. We are not going to use it in any bilateral series," the BCCI's secretary and president-elect, N Srinivasan, told Reuters. "They were supposed to take us to see its use in the Ashes series but I did not go. We have made our presentation to the ICC, saying we are just not convinced about the technology."

When asked if the cost of the technology was an impediment, Srinivasan said, "That's another issue but we have got serious doubts about its accuracy."

India's insistence on avoiding the UDRS is at odds with the trend elsewhere in the cricket world; the technology will also be used in the upcoming World Cup on the subcontinent. "Well, the World Cup is an ICC event and if the ICC decide to use it, they obviously can," Srinivasan said.

India has refused to use the UDRS in any of their bilateral series since becoming the first team to use the technology in 2008. They struggled with their referrals on that tour, getting only one review right, while Sri Lanka successfully challenged 11 decisions. The country's stand has frustrated some of the other teams, who have called on the ICC to step in and ensure that the system is used uniformly throughout the game.

"The ICC needs to take responsibility and lead the way when it comes to the review system," Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain said after losing the Durban test against India during which a couple of decisions went against his team. Cricket South Africa had pushed hard for the system prior to the three-Test series between the two sides, but the BCCI did not budge.

Michael Clarke, who is captaining Australia in the fifth and final Ashes Test in Ricky Ponting's absence, echoed Smith's comments, saying, " I think it should be 100% used or not used at all."-ESPNcricinfo

Interim relief for Kings XI Punjab

The Bombay High Court has granted Kings XI Punjab an interim stay on its expulsion from the IPL but said the franchise would have to satisfy certain conditions, including retaining its shareholding pattern, fulfilling pending player payments and paying the BCCI guarantee money in case the final judgement goes against them. The court also rejected Punjab's request to defer the date for submission of players they would like to retain for the fourth edition of the league, the deadline for which expires today. Punjab have till midnight to finalise their list.

The Punjab franchise has until Wednesday midnight to finalise the list of players it wants to retain

© Indian Premier League

After listening to both parties over the last two days, Judge SJ Vajifdar said that "prima facie" Punjab had a strong case against the explusion and the "interim injunction" was only just. But his verdict carried many riders, the most important being that the franchise cannot change its shareholding pattern and the control should rest in the hands of the four main owners: Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta, Mohit Burman and Karan Paul. The court said that these four needed to hold not less than 51% of the shares in KPH Dream Cricket Pvt. Ltd - the rights-holding company of the franchise - until the final judgement is delivered. Punjab's owners refrained from commenting on the issue until they receive the court order in hand tomorrow.

In the interim Punjab will have to submit various guarantees to the court and the BCCI. The first is clearing the pending payments to its players over the last two years, an amount running upto Rs.35 crore ($7.77 million). And now, since the franchise is free to re-enter the IPL arena, the court has asked it to commit an amount of $18 million for the next two years (at the rate of $9 million per year) as guarantee money for player payments in case the franchise participates in the league.

The other important condition the court asked Punjab to fulfil was to pay the BCCI $3.5 million per year for a period of two years, as security towards any damage incurred by the board in case the final verdict goes against Punjab later on.

Wednesday's news will be seen as another blow to the IPL, whose 2011 tournament has been put increasingly at risk by a succession of court cases. While the Rajasthan and Punjab franchises were embroiled in courtroom battles, a third (Kochi) barely made it over the line. As a result of the controversies, the player auction for the season has been delayed by several months.

In October the BCCI had terminated Punjab, holding the franchise guilty for violating the franchise agreement on three counts, the biggest offence being that the ownership had changed twice in the first three years of the league, something that went unreported to the Indian board.

The franchise moved court last month seeking redressal for the cancellation of its IPL contract. Its petition contended that the termination was a "deliberate and calculated" move to ensure a new and more lucrative re-bidding process. Both parties then decided to opt for the arbitration process, but that too got embroiled in controversy when the arbitrator, Justice BN Srikrishna, recused himself after admitting to the BCCI that he had been legal counsel for the Wadia Group, part owners of Punjab, for many years.

At that point it seem it would be another protracted battle, just like the one Rajasthan Royals, the other franchise expelled, had got involved in with the BCCI. But Punjab rushed to the High Court for help and have now found new crutches to lean on before building their case in front of the arbitrator.

The confusion over the eventual number of teams that will be involved next season affects every component of the world's most lucrative domestic league: its teams/ franchises, its players and its very structure. -Cricinfo

Kochi franchisee gets green signal, to play in IPL 4

MUMBAI: The BCCI on Sunday allowed the squabbling Kochi franchisee to participate in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, ending the suspense over the fate of team.

The IPL Governing council, which had given a third deadline to Kochi last week after the consortium's investors reached a last-minute agreement over their shareholding pattern, on Sunday approved their ownership structure and took it in its fold.

"At their meeting today, the IPL Governing Council confirmed that the Kochi Franchisee had satisfactorily responded to the notice issued to them by the BCCI, and decided that the Franchisee Kochi Cricket Pvt. Ltd., would play in the IPL from 2011 onwards," BCCI secretary and president-elect N Srinivasan said in a release.

The Governing Council's decision comes on the backdrop of the legal developments involving the BCCI and expelled IPL franchisees - Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, the IPL Governing Council.

Barely seven months after becoming the second most costliest team in the Indian Premier League, Kochi was on the verge of being thrown out of the event.

But the owners of the beleaguered franchise made a last ditch attempt to save the outfit by reaching a compromise.

Before the compromise, the investors of the franchise, which was bought for a staggering sum of Rs 1533.33 crore, had written to the BCCI informing them of their intention to withdraw from the IPL.

That letter was sent after the BCCI, which had on October 10 expelled Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals for allegedly violating contractual agreements, gave a termination notice of 30 days to the franchise to sort out internal disputes regarding the shareholding pattern.

The investors in the consortium -- Anchor Earth, Parinee Developers, Rosy Blue and Film Wave -- hold 74 per cent of the equity.

The remaining 26 per cent lies with the Gaikwad family -- Shailendra, his brother Ravi and their parents all part of Rendezvous Sports World -- as free equity for services rendered while bidding.

It is this 26 per cent which became a bone of contention among the stakeholders as the investors were in no mood to give free equity to the Gaikwad family.

The Gaikwads, on their part, initially refused to part with the equity but have now agreed to forego at least some of it to put an end to the squabbling which threatens the very existence of the team.

The BCCI has made it clear that eight teams will take part in the fourth edition of the league scheduled from April 8, just six days after the World Cup.- PTI