Hours after sale deal, Deccan Chargers out of IPL

There was no confirmation on whether or not BCCI will review its earlier decision to terminate the franchise

It was like a cracker of a T20 match that got washed out in the end. Just a few hours after it got a buyer in Kamla Landmarc, a Mumbai-based suburban real estate developer, Deccan Chargers found itself terminated from the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Within minutes of announcing to the stock exchanges that it had entered into a sale deal with Kamla Landmarc, Deccan Chronicle Holdings, the financially-troubled owner of the IPL franchise, had moved the Bombay High Court, pleading for a further extension of a court-imposed deadline for furnishing the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with a Rs 100-crore bank guarantee, failing which BCCI's earlier decision to terminate the franchise would stand.

Though the appeal was turned down by the court, hopes were afloat that Deccan Chargers would be able to save itself from termination, as the sale deal announced in the morning would lead to some banks agreeing to furnish the guarantee. But, it turned out to be much ado about nothing, as the company was unable to meet the 5 pm deadline.

Unconfirmed television reports said late in the evening that a court-appointed arbitrator had later given Deccan Chargers a second lease of life by extending the bank guarantee submission deadline to October 17. However, this could not be independently verified.

Officials of Kamla Landmarc were not available for comments, nor were executives of the Deccan Chargers team. Top BCCI officials also remained incommunicado.

The Hyderabad-based Deccan Chronicle had said in the morning that its board of directors was authorised at a meeting yesterday to sell the cricket franchise to Kamla, subject to shareholders' and other approvals. The financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. The announcement pushed the Deccan Chronicle stock higher — it was up 4.9 per cent at Rs 9.6 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Speculation was rife on whether or not BCCI would review its earlier decision to terminate the franchise. There was no confirmation on this till the time of going to press.

Deccan Chronicle had moved the Bombay High Court on September 15 challenging BCCI's decision to terminate the franchise after the company rejected the only bid it had received, of Rs 900 crore from PVP Venture, a real estate company. On September 27, the high court had stayed the team's termination and directed Deccan Chronicle to furnish an unconditional bank guarantee.

Deccan Chargers had won the second edition of IPL in 2009, when the tournament was shifted to South Africa. But, it hasn't fared so well since, failing to go beyond the group stage in last two editions.