Kochi IPL decision deferred till Dec 5

The decision on allowing the Kochi team to play in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) season 4 has been deferred till Dec 5 by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) amid speculations that they might survive the axe of the Indian cricket board.

BCCI officials said Kochi has submitted papers on its ownership patterns, which was the crux of the problem, while the team’s mentor and former Union Minister Sashi Tharoor was quoted saying that the conciliation efforts are on.

Satyajit Gaikwad, CEO of the franchise, earlier told the media that they have given a few options to the BCCI, but the Indian cricket board’s IPL governing council that met in Nagpur on Sunday seemed to be taking more time to come to a final decision.

Earlier, the 30-day termination deadline of the Kochi franchise ended on Saturday and BCCI vice-President Rajiv Shukla had said the Board has received “certain letters” from the consortium’s stakeholders and a final decision on the troubled team would be taken on Sunday.

There are speculations in media that the Kochi team may survive the axe of BCCI which had terminated the contracts of two teams in October.

On Oct 10, two of the IPL teams- Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab- had their franchise agreements terminated by the Indian cricket board because of questions over their shareholding and ownership patterns.