Srinivasan takes charge as BCCI president

N Srinivasan, the newly-appointed president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), took over on Monday and immediately terminated Kochi Tuskers' contract after the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, despite repeated reminders, defaulted on a Rs 156 crore annual payment it was to make.

"Because of the irremediable breach committed by the Kochi franchise, the BCCI has decided to encash the bank guarantee in their possession and also terminate the franchise. We have terminated the franchise because the breach is not capable of being remedied," said Srinivasan after the AGM.

The franchise was bought by a consortium comprising some Gujarat-based businessmen for a whopping Rs 1,550 crore last year. According to the rules, franchises have to pay the amount in 10 equal installments.

Kochi has been in the news right from the start due to a rift between the owners, who also wanted to shift the team's base to Ahmedabad. The BCCI, in the past, had also turned down Kochi Tuskers' request to cut down their franchise fees. Kochi owners were promised 18 games in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) document but this was cut down to 14 as the fourth edition was reduced to a 74-game tournament.

The IPL was earlier planned to be a 94-match tournament was cut down to 74 matches due to the hectic international calendar.

At the AGM, Madhya Pradesh's Cricket Association's Sanjay Jagdale was elected unopposed as secretary while Himachal Pradesh's Anurag Thakur and Maharashtra's Ajay Shirke were elected joint secretary and treasurer.

The two new vice presidents are Chitrak Mitra and Sudhir Dabir representing East and Central zones while Arun Jaitley (North), Shivlal Yadav (South) and Niranjan Shah (West) retained their seats for another term.

The senior selection panel also saw one change in 1983 World Cup hero Mohinder Amarnath replacing replacing Yashpal Sharma from North Zone. Amarnath is likely to take over after present chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth's term ends next September along with three other members -- Surendra Bhave (West), Narendra Hirwani (Central) and Raja Venkat (East).

Former vice president Rajeev Shukla replaced Chirayu Amin as the interim chairman of the IPL while Mohinder, who was a part of the Governing Council, made way for outgoing treasurer MP Pandove, also a former cricketer from Punjab.