CSK and Rajasthan to serve two-year suspensions

Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Sunday that it will invite bids to replace Indian Premier League (IPL) outfits Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals, who will have to serve their full suspension term of two years.

The decision was taken by the BCCI’s working committee, which met here on Sunday. CSK and Rajasthan were suspended by the Supreme Court following the interim report of the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha committee on the match fixing scandal in the IPL.

“The Justice Lodha committee interim report will be implemented fully. The two franchise teams, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, remain suspended for two years. BCCI will float tenders and invite bids for two new teams to replace CSK and RR in the Indian Premier League for 2016 and 2017,” the BCCI said in a statement.

The working committee has decided that the annual general meeting of the BCCI will be held on November 9. The committee has also decided to revive the National Cricket Academy (NCA on a priority basis with the BCCI already mulling an offer by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB).

“Revival of the National Cricket Academy as the centre of excellence is the topmost priority of the BCCI. The board will look at the lands offered by KIADB. M.P. Pandove (NCA chairman), Rajeev Shukla (IPL chief), Anirudh Chaudhry (BCCI treasurer) and Amitabh Choudhary (BCCI joint secretary) will inspect the lands offered by KIADB and finalise the deal within one month,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the Indian board announced a new sponsor for the scandal-hit IPL after Pepsi pulled out of the glitzy Twenty20 tournament.

Chinese mobile company Vivo is set to take over as sponsor of the eight-team franchised competition, the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said after a meeting.

“The IPL title sponsorship right has been assigned to M/S Vivo mobiles. Vivo is to give the bank guarantee in next ten days,” a BCCI statement said, without giving details.

The board confirmed last week that it was in discussions with Pepsi to find a solution to some “concerns” raised by the global soft drink giant, without detailing the problems.

Pepsi secured the sponsorship rights for five years from 2013 for nearly four billion rupees (Dh232 million). The company has not given reasons for withdrawing from the deal.

But the IPL has been hit by scandals, including allegations of corruption and match-fixing, that critics say has sullied the sport’s reputation in India.

A Supreme Court-appointed panel in July suspended two teams from the IPL for two years over illegal betting, throwing the competition into turmoil.

ICC chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan agreed to step down as BCCI chief after being found guilty of a conflict of interest. He was at the helm of India Cements, which owns the Chennai Super Kings, one of the teams suspended.