IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla Guarantees IPL Show Will Go On, With or Without CSK and RR

The future of the Indian Premier League had come into serious doubt after the Lodha Committee suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for two years, but IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla has stated that the show will go on.

Shukla is already said to have had talks with BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya and secretary Anurag Thakur. The IPL governing council will meet on Sunday to discuss about the matter further.

"After the verdict of the Justice Lodha Commission we are in the process of consultation. I had a meeting with president Jagmohan Dalmiya and I'm in talks with the secretary Mr Anurag Thakur also. We will analyse and study the entire report at the Governing Council on July 19 and there it may be decided to form a group to study the report and how it can be implemented," PTI quoted Shukla as saying.

While the BCCI are upset by the verdict, they are going to respect the decision taken by the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha committee.

"We will discuss all the options in the Governing Council so please wait. Let's first study and analyse the report. The President has made it very clear that we respect the judicial verdict so the process of implementation is on," Shukla said.

After the verdict, there were calls from several quarters demanding the IPL to be scrapped. But, that was never going to happen as the next edition of the IPL will take place and the fans shall be entertained by cricketers once again, despite the negative headlines the competition has been gaining of late.

"You should rest assured that IPL 9 will take place and there will not be any problem as far as BCCI is concerned," added Shukla.

The BCCI and the IPL Governing Council need to act wisely, as they might have to add two other teams in the competition. There are only six teams at present, following the suspension of CSK and RR.

The BCCI should not have much of a problem in acquiring new teams, as a number of corporates have already expressed their eagerness to bid for an IPL team.

A BCCI official revealed the possible options for the board.

"The BCCI can run the two teams for two years and the original owners can come back after the ban period is over. The other option is to invite fresh bids for two new teams since many corporates have expressed an interest in buying an IPL team," a top BCCI official told PTI.