Putting to rest speculation about a move to shift the IPL eliminator and the final from Chennai to an alternate venue to ensure a full house, BCCI President N Srinivasan today said there has been no discussion on the matter.
“I’m hearing it for the first time from you (the reporters). There is no such discussion,” said N Srinivasan.
While most of the other venues have attracted capacity crowd, Chennai has been an aberration with as many as 12,000 seats going empty because clearance from the city planning department, for want of building approval, is still awaited.
But Srinivasan said that the loss arising from those three stands is not a matter of concern.
“See, the whole season is almost over. And I don’t think that is an issue. The loss arising from it is not an issue, because as far as Chennai is concerned, today is the last (league) match,” said Srinivasan.
Meanwhile, when asked if the BCCI would allow its players to participate in the Sri Lanka Premier League, Srinivasan clarified that if the Islanders make a proposal, the Indian board would examine it.
“Last time around, there were specific reasons why the BCCI could not support the tournament. And we informed the Sri Lankan Board in that time.
“This time if there are any proposals made, we will examine it. And we have to be satisfied that doubts and problems we have last time will not continue,” explained the BCCI president.
Elaborating on the problems that arose last time, Srinivasan said: “Primarily, the contract had generally been given. I don’t want to go into the details. But, obviously, we have to examine whether the situation continues.”
