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Mumbai: Despite the growing consensus over Ahmedabad deserving an Indian Premier League (IPL) team, there seems to be no indication for now that the BCCI will facilitate any such move.
The IPL governing council's newly-elected members met in Hyderabad on Friday to discuss the issue surrounding the termination of Kochi IPL and also finalized the dates for the fifth edition of the tournament to be played in 2012.
IPL 5 will be played from April 4 to May 27 and the opening ceremony will be held a day before the start of the tournament in Chennai.
The BCCI has been tight-lipped about the prospect of floating a tender for a fresh team to replace the sacked Kochi franchise. Sources indicate that considering the prevailing and possible litigations with Kochi, the board is most likely to go ahead now with just nine teams.
Kochi's contract was terminated for non-payment of bank guarantee, thus abruptly ending the controversial Kerala team's association with the cash-rich league after just one year.
If the GC decides to go ahead with only nine teams, the tournament will have to most likely revert to its old format of home and away matches. The league's Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sundar Raman and his team will take the final decision on the format before it is adopted.
Meanwhile, the governing council also discussed ways to improve the existing transfer window to trade players, which usually takes places between December and January for a period not exceeding 30 days. Franchisees have come forward with their views on bringing about certain changes in the trading window and the governing council will further debate the issue in the next meeting.
As for players of the sacked Kochi franchise, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said, "the board will ensure the players are not left in a lurch. Their interests will be kept in mind."
