Bengaluru: The stage has been set for a huge legal battle, with owners Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the two expelled Indian Premier League teams who are taking the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to court.

The owners believe BCCI has acted in an unlawful manner in expelling them, while the Indian board feels that the owners are wasting their time fighting a legal battle. Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals is leading the fight against the BCCI because he has bought a 12 per cent shares of the team at $15million (Dh5.50 million).

The owners are also likely to sue the BCCI for defamation as they feel that the image of their brand, which they created over three years has now been completely tarnished.
The BCCI is of the opinion however that Kundra cannot sway the opinion of the court because he’s not the original bidder for the team.

Amidst all this drama on Monday evening, the owner of the franchisee received an SMS text message on his mobile, allegedly sent by N. Srinivasan, the Secretary and President Elect of the BCCI.

The message read: “As we have been saying, please align yourself with us. Or else everyone will get the same taste of the medicine we have given today to the RR [Rajasthan Royals] and KXIP [Kings XI Punjab]. Owners should not think they are above the BCCI.”

It also went on to add: ''You should be happy we allow you to participate. We know how to clip your wings. The President and I have decided we will run the IPL the way we want to and after all it’s our property. You can either be a part of it or we can find a way for you to get out. We will throw [out the former IPL chairman] Lalit Modi and anyone attached with him. So best avoid talking to him.”

Within minutes of this SMS message, the BCCI sent out a statement stating that: “The BCCI has just received information that some messages, allegedly sent from Mr N. Srinivasan’s cell phone to the IPL Franchisees, are being circulated and talked about by the media. The Board would like to clarify that no such messages have been sent from his mobile. This is clearly a case of foul play and complaints to that effect are being lodged with the concerned Mobile phone service, and the Police, for immediate action.”

Kochi IPL team’s fate hangs in the balance as they still need to resolve the argument amongst its six promoters over shareholding, key to which is conversion of sweat equity into a direct stake, and the incorporation of the team under the Companies Act. All this needs to be done within 10 days as demanded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

According to information, the five company consortium of the Kochi team is split into two groups, one comprising Rendezvous Sports World (owned by Satyajit Gaikwad and Co). They own a 26 per cent stake in the consortium (as sweat equity) and the other group, including Anchor Earth Movers (27 per cent), Parinee Developers (26 per cent), Anand Shyam (eight per cent), and Film Wave (12 per cent), which together hold a 74 per cent stake with Vivek Venugopal holding one per cent.

It is doubtful now whether the conversion of equity into direct stakes and the inclusion of the team under the companies act can be completed in just 10 day’s time.