Sunday sermon for IPL Council over T20 future

The Governing Council (GC) of the popular but troubled Indian Premier League will meet on Sunday to discuss the repercussions of the suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, and also to chalk out a new road map for the T20 event.

The IPL GC, headed by politician Rajeev Shukla, is expected to delve deep into the finer points of the strong judgment issued a few days ago by three-member Supreme Court-appointed panel headed by former Chief Justice of India, R M Lodha.

The IPL governing body urgently needs to chart out a smooth road map for the cash-rich but controversy-ridden T20 League, owned by the Cricket Board (BCCI), that has teetered on the edge for quite some time.

IPL GC has to negotiate a very tricky and rock-strewn path full of legal hurdles such as conflict of interest issues, which had brought it to its knees in the first place.

It has quite a few options in front of it to resurrect the falling reputation and credibility of the league which has taken one hit after another over the years since it started with a bang in 2008.

Putting on a brave face Shukla had commented after the judgment that the controversy-ridden IPL remained a "robust" product, insisting that the event will come back stronger with a minimum of eight teams.

"We are always concerned about IPL and let me assure you the next edition will be a bigger success. IPL is a robust product and this judgement (suspension of teams) should not affect IPL as a product. The idea is to have the tournament in full format with a minimum of eight teams. We can't hold the event with six teams," Shukla had said.

According to Shukla one of the options available for the IPL is to run the two suspended teams with BCCI control.

"There are many options available and we will discuss them all in the meeting on Sunday. One option is that BCCI runs the two teams and responsible people will be deputed for the job," he had said ahead of the meeting.

However, views have already been expressed in some quarters that if this is the road the BCCI takes then conflict of interest issues could crop up again.

"We will deliberate on their (Lodha Committee) report in the meeting. After that, a sub-group will be constituted and it will study the report. Based on that, we will decide how the report will be implemented," Shukla had added.

Justice Lodha had also said a day after delivering the judgment that the BCCI was free to terminate the IPL franchises.

(The Times of India)