IPL governing council to discuss today MCA's letter protesting shifting of final match from Mumbai

NEW DELHI: The governing council of the Indian Premier League is likely to discuss the letter it has received from the Mumbai Cricket Association protesting against the tournament’s final being shifted from Mumbai to Bangalore on Tuesday.

“After Mr (Sharad) Pawar’s letter asking them for reasons behind the shift, the MCA has written another letter assuring the IPL GC of all cooperation from its side,” MCA vice-president Ravi Savant told ET after the association met on Monday.

“There must be some issues that are bothering them. We will sort them out. We are expecting a favourable response from them by tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon,” said Savant.

One of the possible reasons for the Twenty20 tournament final being moved was that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wanted to hold a closing ceremony but bursting fire crackers and playing loud music after 10 pm is not allowed in Mumbai.

“This is what we have been indicated was the issue. If they had asked us, we could have got the permissions,” Savant said. The MCA was taken by surprise on Saturday when the IPL governing council decided to shift the June 1 final from Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

“Considering that 20 matches of the ongoing Pepsi IPL season were played overseas, the GC took a decision to try and take the playoffs to as many different stadia as possible. Several venues had expressed their interest in hosting the playoffs,” it said at the time.

MCA president Sharad Pawar sent a protest letter to the IPL governing council and all other BCCI members and asked why the final was being shifted. As a mark of their displeasure, MCA office bearers returned their IPL accreditations to the organisers and decided to convene an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the matter to decide the future course of action. The Rajasthan Cricket Association also criticized the Indian cricket board for shifting the final.