The Board of Control for Cricket in India "is working on the possible scenario" of terminating contracts with Indian Premier League sides Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, bringing out a tender for two new franchises, appealing in court against the Kochi Tuskers arbitration and ruling out all other options like hosting a six-team Indian Premier League or inviting foreign teams to participate in the tournament, according to Gaurav Gupta of the TIMES OF INDIA. In doing so, "the cricket board's biggest apprehension is facing a legal backlash from CSK and RR, in case they are terminated." The IPL governing council will meet on Aug. 29. BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said, "Termination is very much an option, as much as auctioning two new teams is." Curiously, while Thakur insisted that the termination of CSK and RR was a possibility, IPL Chair Rajiv Shukla, who is heading the working group which includes Thakur, was not "very vocal about sacking the teams." He said, "We haven't formed an opinion on that. It can have legal ramifications, even the Lodha Committee hasn't recommended that." Highly-placed sources said that the BCCI "is extremely wary of the legal tussles it can get into if CSK and RR are terminated." While the Lodha committee report is final and binding on the BCCI, CSK and RR -- if sacked -- "will be free to go to court." Thakur and Shukla were, however, convinced that "the BCCI as well as all concerned stakeholders were of the view of having eight IPL franchises for the 2016 season." The general view coming out of Saturday's meetings was that if BCCI does sack CSK and RR but in time if courts allow the two franchises to return, the Board "can always accommodate 10 IPL franchises." Only two of the existing IPL franchises "are currently not in favour of bringing in new franchises through an auction." These two teams "strongly believe that letting go of CSK and RR -- two established IPL franchises -- will erode the overall value of the league as well as the other teams." Barring two existing franchises in the IPL, almost all other stakeholders "are now of the view that neither foreign teams can be invited to play in the IPL nor there can be a six-team league." After meeting the working group of the BCCI, Kings XI Punjab co-Owner Ness Wadia said, "There won't be value erosion. In fact, we strongly believe there'll be value realization if two new teams are auctioned" (TIMES OF INDIA, 8/9).
