The BCCI's very public fight

Most of the IPL franchises and even the influential Sharad Pawar have thrown their weight behind IMG in the sports management firm's tussle with the Twenty20 tournament's organisers. This is unprecedented in Indian cricket, writes Kunal Pradhan in the Indian Express, as it is the first time those within the BCCI are forming alliances with those outside it (franchise owners, who can't be ignored). This is making Indian board officials worry about a loss in their independence and power, Pradhan says.

While one side is waving letters — from Ambani, Shah Rukh Khan and even former Board chief Sharad Pawar — to oppose the dismissal of IMG, which was praised so lavishly by Modi at the end of the second IPL; the other side’s old-school BCCI survival instincts are considering this a sign that the exclusivity of their private club is in danger of being breached forever.

“Today, they (franchisees) are saying which company should be the IPL’s promoter, tomorrow they will want so-and-so to be the league’s commissioner, and the day after they’ll say we want this man as Board president,” a top BCCI official said on Tuesday, clearly expressing his faction’s biggest fear. “This is not proper.”

Over at sportzpower.com, Desh Gaurav Sekhri, a sports attorney, writes that there are no viable alternatives to IMG in India for organising an event of the IPL's magnitude. He also wonders whether the contract termination is a merely an attempt by the IPL to reduce the amount it will have to pay IMG, a tactic the IPL had successfully used to re-negotiate their deal with broadcasters World Sports Group.