BCCI not aware of Sunil Gavaskar's Kochi IPL links

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today said it was not aware of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) Kochi consortium's "links" with ex-Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was a member of the IPL's governing council before being ousted a few weeks ago.

The fate of the Kochi consortium, which has sought some more time to resolve its internal differences, would be decided tomorrow in a meeting of the IPL governing council in Nagpur.

Gavaskar has been roped in an advisory capacity by the franchise, which says it did so after he had been ousted from the governing council. BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said the board was not aware of the consortium's move.

"We were not aware of Gavaskar's links with the Kochi IPL," Shukla said.

"We were never informed because this issue was never there. This is for the first time we are coming to know about this. We will discuss the issue in the meeting tomorrow," he added.

Gavaskar was ousted from the IPL governing council after a reported payment dispute.

The crux of the dispute in the Kochi franchise is that who will run the affairs of the franchise, bought from the cricket board for $333 million, once the joint venture was formed.

The investors include corporate firms Anchor Earth, Parinee Developers, Rosy Blue and Film Wave - who hold 75% of the equity.

The remaining 25% has been given to the family of Gaekwads - Shailendra, his brother Ravi and their parents plus a few others, all part of the group of promoters - Rendezvous Sports World - as free equity for services rendered in successfully bidding for the franchise.

The board had given the franchise 10 days' time on October 10 to resolve their internal differences and the franchise responded by submitting a letter to the BCCI on the last day of the deadline - October 20.