Yes you heard that right! The stadiums will once again turn yellow and Blue with roars of #whistlepodu and #hallabol as BCCI is making plan to have a grand welcome for the two ex-franchises in IPL, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). Recently BCCI passed their decision of cutting down the media rights period from 10 years to five years; they marked the occasion by enunciating the return of two of its original eight franchises. BCCI has plans to welcome the two on the two franchises on the very day that it releases the 'Invitation to Tender (ITT)' for the media rights mentioned above.
It is learnt that CSK have already started making grand plans of their welcome and are involved in finalizing events themed around their massive fan base. N Srinivasan, former ICC and BCCI President was addressing the crowd at Madras Advertising Club’s annual awards function;
"M S Dhoni, wearing yellow and leading the CSK team onto the ground. Come 2018, there is every possibility of it happening. We will be back with a bang,"
On the current controversies around the ex-CSK players he said,
"You can accuse anybody of anything but you can’t accuse a single player. They just played. It was pure jealousy. with a bang"
An official in the know of things said: M S Dhoni, the former skipper of Rising Pune Supergiant, who “seems to have become an unnecessary talking point for all the wrong reasons other than cricket,” will go back to the Super Kings – a team that he had been associated successfully for eight long years - immediately after the end of the 2017 edition.
The Rajasthan Royals, meanwhile, are in talks with a leading corporate – that already has interests in the IPL as of now – for a possible stake sale and could return to the tournament from the 2018 edition onwards with a new (co) owner. The corporate is looking to extend its stay in the IPL, a tournament which has managed to be its chairman fancy and is happily engaged in all discussions as of now.
The franchise owned by India Cements Ltd., N Srinivasan is managing director and vice-chairman of which, were suspended from IPL in 2015 for two seasons due to the involvement of Gurunath Meiyappan- the son-in-law of N Srinivasan and team principal of CSK in the 2013 betting scandal. The Lodha committee passed a judgement in 2015 suspending CSK and RR for their involvement in the scandal and to be replaced with two new teams.
Meanwhile it is heard of that IPL will have a complete changeover in 2018 and it will be even bigger. It is believed to be the outcome of the SC-appointed Committee of Administrators overseeing the day-to-day affairs in Indian cricket.
Both CSK and RR have been winners of previous editions of IPL. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) emerged as winner on two occasions whereas Rajasthan Royals managed a win in IPL 2008. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals both will be back in action in IPL 2018, while the two replacement teams Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions will make way for them.
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