Bank guarantee will help Chargers’ players

The rejection of the sole bid from the PVP Ventures Ltd ufffd owned film producer PV Prasad ufffd to buy Indian Premier League franchise Deccan Chargers owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL) has put the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in a quandary

Bank guarantee will help Chargers' players

As soon as the DCHL rejected the bid on the basis of payment terms offered the bidder, the Indian cricket board mandarins started their process to determine the future course of action.

“We are exploring options as to what is to be done. The deadline given to the DCHL expires at 5pm on September 15. Only then can the working committee (meeting in Chennai) take a call on the matter,” a top board official said yesterday.

Deccan Chargers player Parthiv Patel (left), coach Darren Lehmann and co-owner Gayatri Reddy pose ahead of IPL-V. Pic/AFP

According to the official, BCCI has two options left to ensure smooth running of the IPL VI. “First, we will have to wait for two more days to see whether they find a buyer who is ready to buy the franchise with all its liabilities. Secondly, they (DCHL) can reveal that they failed to sell the franchise. In that scenario, the board would have no other option but to scratch off the franchise and invite for fresh bids. We will then also have the right to encash the bank guarantee and pay the pending salaries of the Chargers’ players for the fifth edition,” the board official told MiD DAY.

Anyone can bid
However, if the franchise is terminated, the “as is where is” clause will no more be applicable. “Then we would have the right to sell the franchise to anyone based anywhere within the geographical boundary of the country and can be named according to the successful bidders’ wish,” the official added.
Meanwhile, BCCI has made it clear through a media release that the PVP Ventures’ bid was in accordance with the IPL rules.

“The bid that was received by DCHL met the BCCI’s eligibility and suitability criteria,” said the release. They also announced that the offer given by the bidders was not acceptable to the DCHL and the board had no role to play in that. “The bid was then reviewed by DCHL who, in its discretion and with no role being played by BCCI, rejected the bid on the basis of the payment terms offered by the bidders,” the release added.

Asked about board’s relatively softer stance against the Hyderabad franchise, the official admitted that BCCI never wanted to terminate a franchise unless forced to. “We gave them time to resolve the matter, but one thing they did wrong was to mortgage the franchise. Otherwise, they followed every guideline formulated by the board,” he said. u00a0

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