Friday, March 14, 2008

Current players can’t own a stake in IPL teams: BCCI

As it received an overwhelming response to the offer of franchise for owning cricket teams in the Indian Premier League, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday made it clear that no current player can have a stake in a company owning any of the teams.

The BCCI stand came in the wake of media reports that star batsman Sachin Tendulkar was in talks for a joint bid with the Future Group, which has expressed interest in becoming a franchisee of the BCCI’s Twenty20 venture. However, the company itself maintained that reports about Tendulkar were mere speculation.

“He is playing, so where the question of buying a team comes from? When someone is playing, how can he buy a team?” BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who is also a member of the IPL Governing Council, told a news channel.

His views were shared by BCCI Joint Secretary MP Pandove who said, “Any player contracted with the Board can’t have stakes in participating teams.”

Shukla said at the BCCI briefing that the IPL had received overwhelming response from companies

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