Sunil Gavaskar, interim-President, BCCI, for the Pepsi-IPL-VII said the India leg matches were scheduled after receiving confirmation from the respective associations that they would be able to stage matches from the first week of May.
“There was some uncertainty about Jaipur. And not just Jaipur, as you see from the schedule, Chennai and Mohali, too, had issues.
“The endeavour has been to make sure that the schedule is not disrupted. Besides, I think the RCA matters are subjudice. Rajasthan Royals did indicate that they would be happy to play at Ahmedabad.
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“But, it is also a fact that every franchise has been talked to. Some of the regular venues like Dharamsala, for example, have missed out. Chennai will get only a couple of matches because of the election situation. That is how it is, so it doesn’t rule out these venues from next season’s IPL. However, in the current circumstances, with the kind of uncertainty that was there, the decision was taken only because of that, and not for any other reason.”
Responding to a question on retaining Sundar Raman as the IPL CEO, Gavaskar said: “I am seized of the matter. I am evaluating all the information that is coming to me. Once all the information reaches me, I will be able to [take a call on him]. I have just been in office for a week and I am evaluating things.”
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Gavaskar said it has been an interesting journey so far.
“I have been updated by the other office-bearers of the IPL. I went straight to Dubai where we had a lot of meetings because the first leg is being held there and the priority was obviously to make sure that the leg gets off. So we had meetings over there; we also met the ground authorities. That (UAE leg) is on schedule and we are hoping that it will be a terrific start to the seventh edition of the Pepsi-IPL.
Though I reached from Dubai only this morning (Friday), I have had interactions with the sponsors as well as the franchises over phone.”
About the compensation to be paid to the franchises due to the additional expenses incurred due to the shifting of the three rounds to the UAE, Gavaskar said: “That is being looked at because it will take some time to calculate the exact compensation amount. There are a lot of factors to look at. I am pretty certain that the franchises will be happy; they won’t be too disappointed. I think that has been agreed to, but the quantum is something they are working on.”
Gavaskar said the priority was to put in place measures recommended by the Mudgal committee. “We hope that with all the things in place, we will have a tournament that will be remembered for its cricket and nothing else.”
When asked if he would write to Shivlal Yadav, president, BCCI, non-IPL matters, about the IPL dues he had claimed earlier, Gavaskar said “no.”