BCCI official rubbishes Modi's IPL allegations

A senior BCCI official rubbished former IPL chairman Lalit Modi's claims that Board president N Srinivasan was trying to gift the Hyderabad franchise to his friends, saying the whole process of Sun TV winning the bid was done in a transparent manner.

"The whole process of deciding on the franchise was very clear and transparent. Tender documents were made available and the bidding process was also very proper and there was no scope of any ambiguity," the official said.

-BCCI is gifting IPL team to Srinivasan's friends: Modi

Sun TV bought the Deccan Chargers team on Thursday for Rs 85.05 crore per year, prompting Modi to write on twitter that he had "predicted" it would happen this way and that BCCI was trying to "gift" the team to Srinivasan's "pals."

Asked what would be the fate of the Deccan Chargers players, the official informed that most of them will be retained by the Sun TV franchise, while the rest will go under the hammer in the open bidding next year.

Last Thursday, the Guwahati High Court also passed a judgement, restraining BCCI from "taking a final decision" on the tender floated on October 14 for selection of new teams for 2013 IPL tourney.

Asked about the decision, the senior official said: "The bidding has been done and the franchise has been decided. This court decision is not going to affect the process.

"BCCI wants to take IPL across India but we have to understand that unfortunately, there is no proper infrastructure in North Eastern states. May be in the future we will have a north eastern team in IPL," he said.

The ongoing Champions League Twenty20 tournament received a lukewarm response with the IPL teams -- Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils -- failing to perform up to their reputation.

Asked about their disappointing show in South Africa, the BCCI official said: "It is disappointing that the IPL teams could not do well in Champions League but then in sport, it happens. We can't expect our teams to do well all the time."