Chennai: Pune Warriors has been suspended from IPL by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after the Sahara-owned franchise defaulted on its payments and refused to furnish the bank guarantee for the next season.
A top BCCI official said that this decision has been taken at Cricket Board’s all-powerful working committee meeting in Chennai.
The Pune Warriors have been on collision course with the BCCI after the Board encashed its bank guarantee due to non-payment of franchise fee.
The Sahara group announced its pull-out from the IPL after that even though that is yet to be formally conveyed to the BCCI, which in turn wanted the team to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 170.2 crore to remain a part of the league next year.
The BCCI has now terminated it from the IPL after reportedly reminding Sahara about the payment for several times.
Pune Warrior has been bought by Sahara for $370 million (approx Rs 1702 crore) in 2010 and was the most expensive franchise on the IPL roster and its termination would cause substantial financial loss to the BCCI.
A 30-day termination notice has been issued to Pune Warriors by IPL governing council members after meeting on Saturday.
Sahara has been demanding the completion of the arbitration proceedings on the issue of franchise fee, which, it feels, should be lowered since the BCCI did not deliver on its promised number of IPL matches for the team.
The arbitration process has not yet started because of the differences between BCCI and Sahara over the judges to be appointed for it.
Bureau Report
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