BCCI assures franchisees of 8 team IPL for the next 2 years

BCCI assures franchisees of 8 team IPL for the next 2 years: The BCCI has assured the six franchises of the IPL that the tournament will be an eight-team affair for the next two years. Board secretary Anurag Thakur and IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla met the representatives of the six franchises of the league in Delhi on Wednesday. The agenda of the meeting was the updation of the franchisees after the recommendations proposed by the BCCI working committee over the next two years.

One of the proposals which was endorsed and confirmed was the bidding for the two new franchises that will replace the suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). The response from the franchises over the discussions was said to be positive.

Following the suspension of CSK and RR for 2 years (2016 and 2017) due to owner/official’s involvement in betting by a Supreme Court appointed panel, the Indian cricket board decided to induct 2 new teams as replacements for 2 seasons.

“Honorary Secretary of the BCCI Mr. Anurag Thakur and IPL chairman Mr. Rajeev Shukla met with the representatives of the six franchisee’s in Delhi today to update them on the recommendations proposed by the BCCI working committee for the next two years of the IPL,” BCCI said in a media release.

IPL chairman Shukla said, “It was a very fruitful discussion. We briefed the franchisees about the steps to be taken by BCCI regarding the two-year suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Their feedback is valuable to us and they appreciated the solutions suggested by the IPL working group which were later recommended by the BCCI working Committee.”

Anurag Thakur expressed his satisfaction at the teams’ response, “We are making constant efforts to keep our stakeholders involved at all levels. It was important for us to take the franchisees on board and let them know about our discussions and recommendations and our reasons behind those recommendations with regards to vivo IPL season 2016 and 2017. The franchisees expressed satisfaction and support towards the IPL. We are committed to deliver the best of IPL editions in the years to come”, he opined.

The bidding for the two new teams set to begin after the BCCI Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 9, 2015.