Jay Shah Calls For Constructive Dialogue After Heated IPL Meeting Debates

BCCI secretary Jay Shah issued a statement after reports of IPL owners including Shah Rukh Khan and Ness Wadia having a heated argument amongst themselves during the IPL meeting emerged on Wednesday.

Among the team owners or co-owners who attended the meeting were Shah Rukh Khan from Kolkata Knight Riders, Kavya Maran from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Ness Wadia from Punjab Kings, Sanjiv Goenka with his son Shashwat from Lucknow Super Giants, KK Grand and Parth Jindal from Delhi Capitals.

The IPL team owners were divided in their opinions on issues ranging from the mega auction to the impact substitute player rule when they met at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on July 31.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday organised a constructive dialogue with the owners of the 10 franchises on various subjects pertaining to the upcoming season of the IPL," he said in a release.

Teams are not likely to be allowed to retain more than five players with one Right to Match (RTM) card. The RTM card gives a franchise the opportunity to match the final bid of a player from their squad of the previous season.

Jindal confirmed there was no consensus among the teams in context of the number of players they wanted to retain ahead of the mega auction.

"Nothing (on the consensus). Some people want eight to 10, some people want four, some people want six… it's all up in the air," he replied.

Wadia and SRK had a heated debate on the issue of whether to have a mega auction or not.

However, Parth Jindal, director of JSW Sports which owns Delhi Capitals, said there was "no real outcome" from the meeting as teams stuck to their opinions on all matters discussed.

"No real outcome. It was just to hear all perspectives from all owners and BCCI has heard us and now they will give us all rules. Hopefully, by end of August we will get to know rules for next cycle," Jindal told reporters at BCCI headquarters.

"We're not on same page on many issues. But I think BCCI, in their wisdom, will decide. I think president and secretary will decide," he said.

Impact Player Rule

Jindal also expressed that Delhi Capitals are against impact player rule while providing his views.

"Impact player rule, again, (there were) different views from different people. Some people want it because it gives chance to young players to play in IPL. Some don't want it because it is detrimental to Indian cricket in terms of development of all-rounders so it's mixed bag," he said.

Feedback and Recommendations

"The franchise owners tabled feedback on player regulations and other commercial aspects, including central merchandising, licensing, and gaming. The BCCI will now take these recommendations to IPL Governing Council for further deliberation and evaluation before formulating IPL player regulations," Shah added in release.

The BCCI secretary later confirmed to media that board will be taking its decisions soon on all points discussed.

Future Decisions

Punjab Kings' Wadia hoped decisions will be taken in favour of "all stakeholders" while adding that matter of overseas players' availability was also discussed.

"We discussed several points, auctions, players, uncapped players. It was good meeting, happy to be having discussion with BCCI and whatever will be done will be in favour of fans, players and all stakeholders," Wadia told media.