CSK, Royals representatives not invited for BCCI meeting

Management representatives of the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals franchises have not been invited for the first round of discussions with the BCCI's working group that is in charge of studying the Lodha panel order relating to the IPL 2013 corruption case. The owners of the franchises - India Cements and Jaipur IPL Pvt Ltd - had been suspended for two years by the panel in its verdict announced last month.

With the participation of the teams in doubt, the BCCI formed a working group on July 20 - comprising IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and IPL governing council member Sourav Ganguly - to study the panel's order and present its findings in six weeks.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the group will have one-on-one discussions with the IPL's stakeholders, including broadcasters, sponsors and the remaining six franchises over the week.

The suspended franchises were not surprised with the development but hoped the BCCI would communicate its next course of action to them at the earliest.

Shukla, meanwhile, said the group would speak to sponsors to ensure that next year's edition was a success.

"We have started meeting all the stakeholders. Today the representatives of Yes Bank came and met the members of the working group," Shukla told reporters in Delhi on Monday. "Yes Bank is one of our sponsors. Similarly we will meet other sponsors and also speak to them about how to make IPL 9 a success."

While Shukla stressed that sponsors were "bullish", an IPL insider admitted that companies and brands are wary of their association with the IPL, due to the negative publicity surrounding the league in the aftermath of the corruption scandal. Sponsors seem to have indicated that the board will have to renegotiate the terms even if IPL remains an eight-team affair.

The Lodha committee's order left two companies with teams that cannot play in the league and the onus is now on the BCCI to work out a way forward, to decide whether the suspended teams will be in limbo for two years or play under different ownership. The group will also have to look at ways to ensure that the next two editions of the IPL will feature eight teams and players from the suspended franchises.