BCCI to take final decision on IMG issue by Sep.24

The Indian Premier League (IPL) and its commissioner Lalit Modi has asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take a final call on whether or not to terminate the services of IMG as an organiser of the event.

IPL and BCCI sources said that BCCI president Shashank Manohar will review the issue and present his report and recommendations to the BCCI's working committee on September 24.

The decision was taken to end the chasm between two powerful BCCI officials - Lalit Modi  andN Srinivasan.

The BCCI's decision to terminate the services of the IMG from IPL was seen as an attempt to clip Modi's wings.

But with seven IPL franchises and even the former BCCI president Sharad Pawar throwing their weight behind Modi, the IPL Governing Council met here on Wednesday and took the decision to take the matter before the BCCI Working Committee.

Earlier, a 'disturbed' Pawar reportedly snubbed Srinivasan and expressed his disappointment in no uncertain terms in a letter addressed to Manohar.

''When I was the board president, we signed a 10-year agreement with IMG to conceptualise, formulate and implement a new league along with Lalit Modi and the same was approved at all appropriate levels,'' he stated.

''IMG has been instrumental in day-to-day operations of the league and we should come to a suitable arrangement (with IMG). In IPL, there are many stakeholders and anything we do that may jeopardize their investments will show BCCI in a bad light. With the overwhelming success of the IPL, it is our duty to protect not only BCCI but also all its stakeholders,'' Pawar said.

Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, is of the view that the IMG has been overcharging the BCCI, and therefore, its services should be terminated.