IPL to appeal against Lahoti report over Kochi Tuskers

NEW DELHI: The IPL governing council on Wednesday decided that it will appeal against the decision taken by arbitrator RC Lahoti, the former chief justice of India, in the case with its former franchise Kochi Tuskers.

Lahoti’s report had favoured the franchise whose contract was terminated by BCCI back in 2011, citing breach of contract after which the board decided to encash the bank guarantee that was earlier given by the franchise. The report had asked BCCI to pay Rs 550 crore to Kochi Tuskers.

“The report came to us a week back. Most members think we should appeal against the report, so we will seek legal opinion,” said Rajeev Shukla, chairman of IPL.

At the governing council meeting, the issue around the valuation of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings was referred to the BCCI working committee, Shukla said. The working committee will now take legal opinion on the matter and then refer it back to the IPL governing council for a final decision.

Shukla also said that while there has been news of a possible buyout of Royal Challengers Bangalore by the JSW group, neither of the two have approached the IPL governing council or the BCCI for any such sale. “Before any such deal, the governing council has to approve it first,” he said.

There was anticipation that this meeting would also provide clarity on the future of the Champions League T20 tournament, but Shukla clarified that this is not the right forum for it.

“There is a separate governing council for CLT20 and this matter will be discussed there in presence of Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa,” he said. The CLT20 tournament has been played for the past few years in September but has not seen enough traction from both sponsors and viewers because of which the Indian cricket board has been thinking about replacing it with another tournament with a different format.