Rajasthan, Punjab submit bank guarantees

Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab have moved a step closer to participation in the upcoming IPL player auction by fulfilling the Bombay High Court's condition of filing affidavits in connection with bank guarantees. The franchises were told to submit the guarantees - US$ 10.63 million for Rajasthan and $21.50 million for Punjab to cover the cost of players' salaries and the teams' contracts with the BCCI - as a condition of the stays against their expulsion granted by the Court.

Officials of both franchises confirmed the submissions to ESPNcricinfo.

Rajasthan were originally asked to provide $20.83 million as security - $18 million to cover salaries and $2.83 million to cover their board contract - but that amount was lowered by the Court after Rajasthan's counsel, Janak Dwarkadas, produced affidavits from Shane Warne and Shane Watson, the two players retained by the franchise, saying that they did not need any bank guarantee towards their salaries. That reduced the amount by $6.2 million and a further reduction came after their counsel argued that the team's average spend in the past three auctions was in the range of $3.9 to $4 million, so their total guarantee should be $8 million plus $2.83 for the BCCI.

The teams have had to deposit the money to cover the guarantee with a bank owned by the Indian government. The arbitration proceedings between the franchises and the board will proceed independently of the court's decisions on the issue of termination.