The Governing Council of the IPL, which is to meet on Sunday afternoon in Mumbai, is expected to declare that it respects the decision of the Supreme Court appointed Lodha Committee. There is little scope for the council to contest the punishment handed down by the three retired top court judges because it is based wholly on the IPL rules and regulations.
The council will, however, consider alternatives to fill the slots left vacant by the banning for two years of Chennai super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. The council may even consider the case of the Kochi Tuskers to fill one of the slots as the return of the team seems to have the backing of the council chairman Rajiv Shukla. The case of Deccan Chargers might also come up with regard to IPL-9, but only after the arbitrator rules in the issue.
There is no clear indication yet of which way the council will swing with regard to IPL-9 and the signs are that the major decisions will be left to the annual general meeting of the BCCI that is to take place in September. No firm decisions are expected in the Sunday meeting.
With video conferencing to connect Ravi Shastri and Sourav Ganguly from the UK, the meeting is expected to be lively, if somewhat divided in its opinions given the state the IPL has been reduced to thanks to the misdeeds of the owners of CSK and RR.
The meeting at the BCCI headquarters at the Wankhade Stadium in Mumbai is scheduled to begin at 3 pm.
