Mumbai:
The first meeting of IPL team owners and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) brass since the suspension of Lalit Modi saw some contentious issues being discussed, including player retention and the cap on spending in the new season.
Team owners emerged from the meeting saying they were happy, had put forth suggestions and now the BCCI would take decisions after more discussions, including consultation with individual teams. Former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and MAK Pataudi will work out logistics.
Vijay Mallya, owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the person appointed to speak for all team owners, said after the meeting that a majority of the 10 franchises favoured all players going back into the auction, with none retained by any team. The players have largely been with the same team for three seasons after the first big auction in 2008 and a complete reshuffle and new bidding had been scheduled before the fourth.
(Watch:Mallya: Spending cap should be increased)Sources says IPL governing council member Sunil Gavaskar too is in favour of all players going into the next auction. But there is a clear divide between the BCCI and a majority of the team owners on this issue, mainly because BCCI secretary and owner of the Chennai Superkings N Srinivasan wants to retain players.
Mallya also said the franchises wanted the spending cap to be increased from 7 million dollars to 9 million dollars for each team. Lalit Modi had enforced a cap saying it would ensure a level-playing field rather than giving the opportunity to the richer franchises to walk away with the best players.
There is also some dissonance on the number of matches that shall be played from the next season on with the addition of two new teams. While the BCCI is loath to hold the 94 matches that the current format would entail and wants to restrict the number to 68, the team owners do not want the tournament format to change. Mallya said there should be home and away games even with the addition of the two new teams.
This was the first IPL meeting since Modi was suspended as Commissioner earlier this year and his absence hung in the air. While Mallya refused to answer Modi questions saying, "Lalit Modi is suspended so we have to look ahead now," Ness Wadia, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, said he missed Modi. (
Watch: We miss Lalit modi, says Ness Wadia)
"Modi was hanged before a trial...he was hanged by the press," Wadia said and added that he hoped Modi would be "given a fair trial by the BCCI and the Government of India."
Wadia confirmed that he and other owners of the team had applied to sell off stake and had received a good offer.
New IPL chief Chirayu Amin, BCCI president Shashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan, attended the informal meeting with the team owners to discuss the way forward before a crucial IPL governing council meet on Friday.