The Kochi franchisee will be part of the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), with the IPL Governing Council accepting the team's new ownership pattern at a crucial meeting held in Mumbai on Sunday.
The fourth season of the IPL gets under way on April 8, 2011.
Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary N. Srinivasan said: “At their meeting on Sunday, 5th December 2010, the IPL Governing Council confirmed that the Kochi franchisee had satisfactorily responded to the notice issued to them by the BCCI, and decided that the Franchisee Kochi Cricket Pvt. Ltd. would play in the IPL from 2011 onwards.”
The two-hour meeting was also attended by some Kochi franchisee owners.
The Kochi franchisee had run into trouble with the BCCI following a dispute between its promoters and investors. On October 27, the BCCI issued a termination notice to the franchisee, giving it 30 days to reply why the team should not be removed from the IPL.
Under pressure to put its house in order, the franchisee declared that an agreement had been reached and submitted a fresh ownership pattern to the BCCI on November 28. The Board took a week to study the proposal. Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, both terminated from the IPL for alleged violations of the terms of agreement, are locked in legal battles with the Board.
