Shah Rukh, Ambani pan BCCI over IMG ouster

Indian Premier League franchisees are up in arms against the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s decision to terminate event SRK manager IMG’s contract with the league on Saturday.

Mumbai Indians owner Mukesh Ambani, Knight Riders’ Shah Rukh Khan as well as the owners of Team Delhi and Team Jaipur have thrown their weight behind IMG and protested at not being consulted on the decision by shooting off letters to BCCI president Shashank Manohar, former board chief Sharad Pawar and IPL commissioner Lalit Modi. Copies of the letters are in TOI’s possession.

Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisees have protested unitedly after the BCCI cancelled IMG’s contract with the League on Saturday. The trouble started when IPL chief Lalit Modi, who also was not in favour of ending IMG’s contract, forwarded the termination letter issued by BCCI secretary N Srinivasan to all IPL team owners. Incidentally, Srinivasan is the owner of Team Chennai.

Sources said that while Modi’s move angered the board, it got the franchisees together in support of IMG. The result is that IPL’s governing council will now meet on September 2 in Mumbai to take a fresh call on the issue and how it can avoid a legal tangle. The meeting would be attended by BCCI president Shashank Manohar, Modi, N Srinivasan, Arun Jaitley, Rajeev Shukla, Niranjan Shah and IS Bindra.

Mumbai Indians’ owner Mukesh Ambani, in his letter to Sharad Pawar, has expressed his vexation at the way the issue has been handled by the BCCI and has asked Pawar to intervene. Ambani writes: ‘‘I am personally shocked at the unilateral decision of doing away with the services of IMG. We are only two seasons old, and we need the continued participation and support of the most capable partners globally to take IPL from strength to strength."

He was also critical of BCCI. ‘‘It is also worrying to me that such a significant decision in relation to IPL has been taken without even so much as consulting the franchisees. I strongly believe that this decision, if taken forward, will destroy substantial value for all the stake holders, especially the franchisees and dilute the success of IPL in the coming years.’’

Even Shah Rukh Khan (Knight Riders) has questioned BCCI’s decision. In a letter to Manohar, he says: ‘‘It’s a matter of sincere concern and anxiety, that IMG, who have been an integral part of the tournament management and it success so far, have been expelled due to failure of commercial negotiations.’’ SRK further wrote: ‘‘We have invested in this league and paid a high price for our franchise with the belief that we are buying into an unique league and world-class event that would break boundaries, not only in India but internationally."

Shah Rukh also drew the example of T20 World Cup in England and said: ‘‘This is evident in the recent ICC World T20 Championships, which took place in England, the delivery of which was nowhere near the quality of IPL. Team Jaipur’s Manoj Badale expressed his reservations against ‘‘the manner in which the decision was made, the basis for the decision, the clarity of metrics surrounding IMG’s evaluation and performance and the absence of clear plan to replace IMG’s services’’.