Deccan Chargers on Monday threatened to sue the Indian Premier League authorities and skip the third edition of the Twenty20 league beginning next month if its home matches are not re-allotted to Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam.
Lashing out at the IPL Governing Council's "unilateral" decision -- because of the ongoing Telengana agitation -- to shift the matches to Navi Mumbai and Nagpur, Deccan Chargers chairman V Shankar told PTI that the Hyderabad-based franchisee would move the court if its demand is not met by the IPL governing council which meets on March 12.
"The IPL has taken a unilateral decision to shift all our home matches out of Andhra Pradesh though Chief Minister K Rosiah, Sports Minister K Venkat Reddy and the DGP have assured us full protection in the conduct of these matches," Shankar said.
"The Telengana Agitation Committee has also given us in writing that they want these matches to be held (as per schedule)," the franchise chairman said.
"Anyway, Maharashtra is no safer place and we have several Australians in the line up, including the support staff, whose safety has been threatened," Shankar reasoned, referring to Shiv Sena's threat against the Australian players following the racist attacks on Indian students Down Under.
Shankar made it clear that the Chargers, who won the title in 2009, will not hesitate to take IPL to the court and skip the league unless their demands are met.
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi had initially announced only the shifting of the opening match between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders, as well as the gala dinner, from Hyderabad to Navi Mumbai's D Y Patil Stadium.
However, a couple of days ago he posted in his 'Twitter' page about the decision to relocate the other six home matches of DC too from Hyderabad and Vizag to Navi Mumbai and Nagpur.
In the revised schedule available on IPL's website, iplt20.com, neither Hyderabad nor Vizag is to host any match.
More than a dozen changes have been made in the original schedule of the cash-rich league to incorporate the shifting of all the home matches of Deccan Chargers.
As per the revised schedule, the two semi-finals are to be held in Bangalore (April 21 and 22) and the final, as well as the 3rd place tie, are to be played at the D Y Patil Stadium on April 24 and 25 respectively.
The first IPL was held in India and became a huge hit but the second edition was moved to South Africa as it clashed with the General Elections.