MUMBAI, Oct 10 (PTI): Indian Premier League (IPL) was today rocked by the termination of the franchise of two of its glamour-laden teams � Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab � by the BCCI, setting off a storm of protests by owners who threatened legal action.
Charging the two teams with breach of franchise agreement, the Governing Council of IPL headed by Shashank Manohar, which met here, took the decision to de-franchise the two teams and also to serve notice to the newly-formed Kochi team to resolve all their disputes within 10 days.
There have been reports of financial irregularities in the two franchises although they have denied any wrong-doing.
The shake-up means that the three-year-old IPL tournament, which had proved to be a financial bonanza for world�s leading cricketers, will now be reduced to eight teams for its fourth edition in April-May next year. Before that, the fate of the newest franchisee Kochi would also be known.
Reacting angrily to the development, Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra said he was not sure how the fourth edition could be held under the circumstances and said his team will seek legal opinion on the matter.
Royal Challengers Bangalore owner Vijay Mallya tweeted: �I wonder if IPL franchisees are serious stakeholders whose investments and participation are respected or are they slaves who only come and play?�
While Rajasthan, led by Shane Warne, had star players like Greame Smith and Shane Watson, Punjab had players like Yuvraj Singh, Brett Lee, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene among others.
�It was unanimously decided that the franchise agreements with KPH Dream Cricket Pvt Ltd (Kings XI) and Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd (Rajasthan Royals) be terminated forthwith based on the legal opinions obtained by BCCI in the matters,� the BCCI said in a release after their emergency meeting of the IPL Governing council here.
�It was further unanimously decided to issue a notice to the unincorporated joint venture holding the Kochi franchise calling upon them to resolve all their disputes and form a company which will hold the IPL franchise rights. Accordingly, P R Raman, advocate for BCCI has been given instructions to issue all the three notices.�
Stressing that the IPL brand value would not suffer, BCCI president Shashank Manohar said no decision has been taken yet on the replacement of these two teams.
�With regards to Rajasthan, the bid was given by a different bidder and the agreement was entered into with a different company,� Manohar said.
On Kochi, he said the franchise had not violated the agreement, but was only suffering from internal disputes.
The BCCI boss also indicated that Lalit Modi had nothing to do with the decisions.
