How could I pull off a coup for Kochi franchise asks Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar clears the air about his association with the new IPL team

A newspaper report says that you "helped the Kochi franchise to pull off a stunning coup in the last IPL auction in March." How do you react to this?
The consortium was the second highest bidder after the Sahara Group and so they won the Kochi franchise. I had nothing to do with the decision to put the bid amount, so it is a bit of an exaggeration to suggest that I helped them pull off a stunning coup. How could I do so if I was in the dark about how much the bid amount was going to be?

Can you tell us when did Rendezvous Sports approach you to be part of their set-up?
I still have no approach in writing from the Kochi franchise, but the Gaikwads as well as others in the consortium have talked to me about coming on board.

What is the kind of involvement you have with Rendezvous Sports? What are the kind of stakes you have in this venture?
There is no monetary involvement in the bid amount from my side and since there is no formal approach in writing there is no question of any stake either.

You have been quoted as saying that you will take a call about coming in for the 'cricketing part' of the team once the internal issues are resolved. How exciting is this going to be for you? You may have to decide on key issues like selecting the right kind of support staff and could even be at the player auction...
Let the BCCI decide. Then we can look at the next step.

The IPL is set to see a lot of changes from next year. The tournament could see less glamour and more emphasis on the actual cricket. How good will this be for a very important cricketing event?
Let us await a final call from BCCI on these aspects. No point in talking about a hypothetical situation.

Which aspect of the recent IPL governing council controversy will hurt/irk you for a long time?
What irked me most about the controversy was the totally misleading headlines and information about the composition of the new governing council.u00a0 I mean, how could I be dumped or dropped if the BCCI contacts me the next day to ask if I am available. This jumping to conclusions just for a headline is a sad part of the media today and even sadder is the inability to accept that they got it wrong and offer a correction after that.