Vinod Rai, head of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), has insisted the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will get underway as scheduled.

The 10th season of the cash-rich league is under jeopardy as the state associations have been demanding financial aid from the BCCI to stage matches. However, the cricket board is not willing to bow down to the demands which has raised a big question mark on the tournament. But Rai has quashed all speculations and said the tournament will go ahead as originally scheduled.

“IPL is happening and it is on schedule,” Rai told India Today.

The four-member committee has been assigned the duty to supervise the functioning of the BCCI until fresh elections are held and Rai said the objective of his panel is to bring ‘undiluted cricket’ to India.

“We are trying our best to be in the saddle. Our commitment was to bring undiluted cricket to the country. It is a governance structure that we are playing with,” he said.

“The CoA appointed by the Supreme Court are established people in the governance. Someone has played the game, someone has written about the game,” he added.

The other three members of the CoA are famous cricket historians Ramachandra Guha, Vikram Limaye, Managing Director of Infrastructure Development Fiance Company (IDFC) and former Indian women’s cricket captain Diana Edulji.

Rai further said most of the member associations of the BCCI are ready to implement the Lodha reforms.

“There is a model constitution put out and the state association will have to put it out. Most of the state associations are co-operating. We are trying to implement the recommendations as early as possible,” Rai said.

The former CAG also expressed his views on the tension and sledging happening in the ongoing series between India and Australia.

“All of us want to play the game as per rules. There are instances because the competition is very intense. Players react differently under different circumstances,” he concluded.