Newly elected BCCI President Shashank Manohar hit his straps and struck the right notes at its Working Committee meeting last Sunday.
The decisions that the general public evinced most interest in were the ones pertaining to who would replace Pepsi as the title sponsor, whether the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royal franchises would be terminated or suspended and what would be the particulars of the newly framed conflict of interest rules within the cricketing body.
The Board did not disappoint.
Pepsi logo (1970-1991) In 1987, the font was modified slightly to a more rounded version which was used until 1991. This logo is now used for Pepsi Throwback (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Pepsi are expectedly out.
Surprise, surprise, it’s not Paytm replacing them but Vivo mobiles. That’s pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Fair enough, given that Vivo agreed to the deal at the same price that Pepsi signed on.
Paytm would have been hard-pressed to match that.
The BCCI, after all its fulminations and discussions with the franchises’ owners, submitted to Justice Lodha committee’s dictates suspending the CSK and RR franchises for two years. The show must go on though—with eight teams.
Tenders will be floated and bids invited for two fresh franchises—once more making it a 10 team league in 2018.
Good enough.
It is the proposed conflict of interest rules that have raised a hue and cry within the BCCI and the state associations.
Shashank Manohar has taken a leaf out of his judicial textbook and drafted a stringent set of stipulations for administrators, selectors, commentators and players.
You could swear you heard a collective groan within the cosy cricketing fraternity.
To the highest bidder goes the spoils.
And you can rest assured that ex-cricketers will be scrambling to join the IPL band-wagon where the highest paymasters reside.
The guidelines will be tabled at the Annual General Meeting on Monday, 9th November 2015 at the BCCI Headquarters in Mumbai.
Manohar certainly means business when it comes to cleaning up the IPL mess.
No further comment.
Make Time For Sports. 
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