Chargers move court over BCCI's contract termination

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) justified their decision to terminate the contract of 2009 Indian Premier League winners Deccan Chargers.

In the wee hours of Saturday, the Board's secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement: "The BCCI is completely justified in this action which was taken with careful deliberation and only due to the absolute inability of the franchise to effectively run the team."

Deccan Chargers' Parthiv Patel u00a0is bowled by Kings XI Punjab bowler Parvinder Awana during the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League u00a0at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Hyderabad on May 8, 2012. u00a0The franchise's contract has been terminated by the BCCI.u00a0A legal battle willu00a0now be on. Pic/AFP

On Saturday, the franchise challenged the BCCI's termination decision by moving court and a hearing is slated in Mumbai on Monday.u00a0The Board is keen on having a nine-team affair in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League next year, but they are not ruling out a legal victory for Chargers. "It depends on the court decision. But in case Chargers are not there, we will invite two franchises to make it a 10-team affair. Else, the IPL will be played among nine teams," a BCCI official said.

The establishment is treading cautiously following the Rajasthan Royals fiasco a year back. "After we terminated their contract, they were back in the fold following a court ruling, so we will have to wait and see," the official said after Chargers took the legal route.

Baseless
Talk of BCCI's decision to terminate the Hyderabad-based franchise was stayed by Bombay High Court was termed baseless by the board. "The BCCI would like to clarify that the counsels of both sides were present in Court at 10:30 am on Saturday, 15 September 2012. The Court heard both parties, and did not pass any order staying the termination. The matter has been placed for hearing on Monday, 17 September 2012," Jagdale said in a media release on Saturday afternoon.

Player interests appear critical for the BCCI going by Jagdale's statement: "The (IPL) Governing Council took note of the sudden change of stance by the franchise and also the fact that any further extension of time would seriously prejudice the interests of the players. Considering the stated position of the Deccan franchise to refuse to rectify the various defaults including payments to players, foreign Boards etc, as also the deleterious effect such conduct would have on the reputation of the IPL and the franchise itself, a decision was taken to forthwith terminate the Deccan Chargers franchise."

Chargers won only four of their 16 games in last year's IPL and finished second last (before Pune Warriors). However, they won the title in 2009. Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara (who was named ICC's Test cricketer of the year on Saturday), SA's Dale Steyn and JP Duminy figured in Chargers team last year.
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