MUMBAI: After BCCI terminated Deccan Chargers and floated a tender for a new IPL franchise, it is the IPL Governing Council which has decided to meet here on 17 October to chalk out future strategy for the tournament.

IPL GC is expected to discuss the termination of Deccan Chargers for breach of contract.

The meeting also holds significance since it is happening at a time when the 31 October deadline of re-signing players is looming large. All the franchises are expected to renew contracts with their existing players.

"There is a meeting of the IPL Governing Council in Mumbai on October 17th. I don?t know any other details," said BCCI CAO Prof Ratnakar Shetty.

IPL GC is made up of Chairman Rajeev Shukla, Arun Jaitley, Anirudh Chaudhary, Dr G Ganga Raju, Sanjay Patel, Amitabh Choudhary, Ravi Shastri and M P Pandove.

The Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL), the parent company of Deccan Chargers, was unable to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 1 billion which meant that its association with IPL ended. The Court had clearly said that the termination notice will stand if DCHL fails to provide Rs 1 billion unconditional and irrevocable bank guarantee.

Following DCHL?s inability to furnish bank guarantee as per Court direction, the arbitrator had passed a status order thereby throwing a lifeline at the beleagured media company.

The status order passed by the arbitrator also gave five more days to DCHl to furnish bank guarante despite the Bombay HC refusing to entertain their plea to extend the deadline. The BCCI had obtained a stay order from the Bombay HC against arbitrators decision thereby dashing its hopes of entering IPL.

The DCHL had on Friday also announced that it was in talks with real estate firm Kamla Lanmarc to sell the franchise. However the deal could go for a toss now that the termination notice is in effect.

The BCCI had on Sunday invited tenders for a new IPL team.

The tender notice for a fresh franchise invites bids for 12 cities: Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Dharamsala, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Nagpur, Noida, Rajkot, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam.

The last date for submission of the bids is 25 October. Bids can be collected from today. Under this invitation to tender, the winning bidder will be granted the right to own and operate a new team which will compete in the IPL from 2013 onwards.

MUMBAI: That the Indian Premier League is undoubtedly the biggest cricket and television property in the country is a given. However, what is also given is the fact that the tournament?s image has been severely dented due to allegations of spot fixing and match fixing.

As per the ?IPL 2012 Public Perception Survey?, which was conducted from 4-9 June by leading digital media company Yahoo! India, over 68.9 per cent respondents believe that IPL players are involved in fixing matches while 57.3 per cent believe that Indian players are also involved in unholy nexus.

The survey conducted on Yahoo! Cricket saw participation from 18,537 respondents.

The respondents also feel that IPL players are overpaid with almost 79.1 per cent respondents echoing that the IPL cricketers are paid more than what they actually deserve.

The survey throws up even more damaging findings with 66.6 per cent respondents saying that cricketers receive ?under the table? payments to play the game, while 14.4 per cent disagreeing with that notion. About 19 per cent respondents were unaware of the subject.

However, it?s not all gloom and doom for the IPL as 61.5 per cent respondents believe that the IPL format has had a positive effect on Indian cricket.

The respondent have also given thumbs down to IPL team owners with 60.1 per cent saying that the high-profile owners should rather low profile during or after. However, 36 per cent respondents also feel that team owners should be allowed to enter the stadia premises.

Should former IPL chairman Lalit Modi ever make a comeback to run the IPL show again? Well, the opinion is sharply divided with only 37.5 per cent in favor of the maverick cricket administratior?s return while a majority of 48.2 per cent are not in favour of his return.

More than half of the respondents also feel that IPL is responsible for players getting exposed to injuries.

Furthermore, the respondents were against cricketers skipping tests and ODI?s to play the IPL matches, with a whopping 92 per cent majority voting against players favouring clubs over country.

Respondents were also in favour of introducing the popular concept of player loaning similar to basketball, baseball, soccer and other sports with 41.5 per cent favouring such a rule in IPL. 56.5 per cent people are in favour of two strategic time-outs in every IPL innings.

The commentators have also been lauded by fans with 44.9 per cent thinking that cricket commentators have overall done a good job in IPL 2012.

Ravi Shastri takes the crown as the best commentator with 30.5 per cent majority, followed by Harsha Bhogle per cent and Danny Morrison 18.4 per cent.

Navjot Singh Sidhu 34.4 per cent, Ajay Jadeja 11.7 per cent, and Rameez Raja 9.8 per cent are voted as the least popular commentators this season.

MUMBAI: Ten Sports will be telecating live and exclusive the Nokia Champions League T20 in Pakistan.

ESPN Star Sports, the global commercial rights holder of the Nokia Champions League T20, has awarded the broadcast rights for the Pakistan territory to Zee-controlled Taj Television, the company that owns and operates Ten Sports.

The tournament takes place from 19 September to 9 October.

Taj Television CEO Atul Pande said, "We are extremely happy to acquire the rights for one of the most fascinating T20 Leagues in the world. Top cricket clubs from around the world, comprising top rated T20 players, will compete in this month-long tournament. Ten Sports will be telecasting all the 29 matches live and exclusive for viewers in Pakistan."

ESS senior VP, corporate development/cricket rights Anurag Dahiya said, "We are delighted to partner Ten Sports to showcase the Nokia Champions League Twenty20 in a passionate cricketing nation and major powerhouse in the sport. Cricket fans in Pakistan can look forward to our world-class production and presentation package, having lined-up many innovative production initiatives and our specialist commentary team of international cricketing legends and experts from top cricket-playing nations for all the matches."

ESS? coverage of the Nokia Champions League Twenty20 includes a line-up of cricket experts consisting of Harsha Bhogle, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Kepler Wessels, HD Ackerman, Ian Chappell, Tom Moody, Ian Bishop and Alan Wilkins.

The start of the main tournament will be preceded by a qualifier for the first time from which three teams will progress to the main round to compete with seven others. The qualifiers will be held in Hyderabad between September 19 and 21, while the main tournament will be spread across three cities - Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

MUMBAI: Former cricketer Ravi Shastri who is a member of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to help with their probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the running of the event during its first three seasons.

Currently Shastri is doing commentary for Star Cricket‘s telecast of the India versus England series.
 
ED officials said that Shastri was summoned as he was a member of IPL‘s governing council and would be aware of major decisions, concerning franchises, taken at that time.
 
Shastri and former Indian captains Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Sunil Gavaskar were the three governing council members who worked under the then IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi.