Team India director Ravi Shastri has opposed the termination of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals during the Sunday’s IPL Governing Council meeting in Mumbai, a source said. According to Shastri Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals have had contributed immensely to the brand of IPL over the years.
According to the Times of India report, the IPL Governing Council meeting Mumbai Cricket Association President Ajay Shirke and former India captain Ravi Shastri got involved in a heated debate.
“The option of termination of these franchises was raised by Ajay Shirke (former BCCI treasurer). However, it was opposed by former all-rounder and Team India director Ravi Shastri. Incidentally, both Shastri and Shirke had joined the meeting on skype from London.
“Arguing CSK and Royals’ case vehemently, Shastri said that both the teams had contributed to the IPL brand big time over the years. He argued that why should the players, or the support staff, say a reputed ex-cricketer like Rahul Dravid suffer because of the (alleged) misdeeds of (Gurunath) Meiyappan and (Raj) Kundra,” Times of India quoted a BCCI insider.
However, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur dismissed Shastri’s points. “The secretary shot back saying that didn’t the Board think along these lines while terminating contracts of Kochi, Pune and other franchises in the past? Where was player interest back then? Clearly, Thakur has a strong view on this,” said the source.
“His point: ‘Why should we decide that we don’t want to terminate the teams now. This call must be left to the working group.”