Team Kochi has brought disrepute to IPL: Lalit Modi

The controversy surrounding Team Kochi refuses to die. Just hours before accepting the Team Kochi owners, Rendezvous Sports World’s franchise agreement, Lalit Modi hit out at the newest entrant in the Indian Premier League (IPL). “There is total chaos about it,” the IPL chairman, currently in Bangalore, told DNA.

“I’m sad. They have brought disrepute to the game and the association,” Modi added, when asked if he had accepted the franchise agreement. The agreement was supposed to have been signed by him on Saturday.

The exact reason for Modi’s verbal assault was not known but the IPL is evidently not too happy with the internal financial arrangement between the six partners of the consortium. There has been speculation about secret partners and it is being reported that two former India captains have acquired stakes in the franchise. The IPL had asked the consortium to come ‘clean’, and on Friday the Team Kochi managers claimed to have satisfied the IPL. But on Saturday it was learnt that the agreement signed by Rendezvous on Friday in Mumbai is being changed. “A new agreement is being done,” Modi confirmed. None of the Rendezvous promoters were available for comment.