IPL Verdict: Here’s how Justice Lodha panel knocked out India ka Tyohaar

The Supreme Court has dampened the spirits of India ka Tyohaar, Indian Premier League, with its decision to ban both Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals for two years.

The Justice Lodha panel that probed into match-fixing allegations also declared Rajasthan Royal’s co-owner and Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra and CSK team official Gurunath Meiyappan guilty in the IPL spot fixing. The panel has banned both Meiyappan and Kundra from getting involved in any form of cricket for life.

With the verdict causing a stir in the cricketing world, the future of this mega-festival that changed the dynamics of the sports and brought cricket at par with other sports at a global level, does not look too great. The game, which has been mired in controversies since its beginning, has been hit hard by the credibility issue.

TR Vivek, co-author of IPL Cricket and Commerce: An Insider Story feels that the Justice Lodha verdict has brought this credibility challenge out in the open. “Personally, it will be farcical for the game to go on without these two teams,” he told BI India.

But its not just the game that has been adversely impacted. The verdict has also put the future of the players in doubt. The IPL allows a minimum squad of 16 players while the maximum is 27. Of these 27 players, only nine players can be of foreign origin while the remaining have to be Indians. In the playing eleven, the squad must include seven Indian players and the remaining can be foreign players. The squad must also have a certain number of BCCI’s under-22 as well as local players.

Currently, both CSK and Rajasthan Royals collectively have 50 players. While we can expect star players such as Brendon McCullum, Michael Hussey, Kyle Abbott, may get accommodated by other IPL teams, the same cannot be said about our budding cricketers. A larger number of these players can be expected to remain jobless in the coming days. And as far as MS Dhoni is concerned, it remains to be seen what the future has in store for him!

In terms of revenues, the verdict has also dented the franchise’s revenue stream substantially. According to Vivek, re-auction is the only way forward. “TV revenues are calculated by the number of games and hence they will have to come up with some way to keep the number of games constant or more,” he noted.

Interestingly, while the verdict has adversely impacted the brand IPL, it seems the game has just got meatier. While we can expect some drastic changes in the way the game will be played henceforth, it remains to be seen how India’s cricket governing body charts out its future course of action!

(Image credits: Indiatimes)