There was no relief for the two times Indian Premier League (IPL) winner Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as the Madras High Court adjourned their petition to 23 September. CSK had filed the petition against the verdict of Lodha Committee, which had suspended them from the cash-rich league for two years.
CSK remained silent for over a month after the hearing and did not take any action. The franchise management later decided to challenge the decision and moved the Madras High Court. But unfortunately this also could not get them relief before the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its IPL Governing Council (GC) decides on the future of the Chennai based franchise.
BCCI had formed a working group immediately after the verdict was announced by Justice R M Lodha on 14 July. The working group consisting of IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and former captain Sourav Ganguly, said that they would take six weeks to study the 59-page Lodha Committee report and would decide on the future of the two suspended franchises (CSK and Rajasthan Royals).
The IPL GC members and the working group will be meeting in Kolkata on Friday to exchange their outcome of the detailed study, after considering all the suggestions and the options of the working group, BCCI will take a call on the future of CSK and Rajasthan Royals.
CSK and the Royals could be re-auctioned for two years but in that case, BCCI might find it difficult to get a suitable buyer for two years. All the teams in IPL will be re-auctioned in 2018 again. The other possible option is to handle the two franchises by two renowned financial institutions or law firms for two years.
The GC is yet to draw a roadmap for IPL 9 and if either of the above mentioned options does not work out, then they will have to find two new teams to keep the IPL up and running in the eight-team format for the next two years.
