Hyderabad, Feb. 15: The Deccan Chargers on Monday threatened to pull out of IPL-3 if the home games of the defending champions are not rescheduled in Hyde-rabad and Visakhapatnam as originally planned.
Serving a legal notice on the Indian Premier League and the Board for Control of Cricket in India, Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures Limited, the parent company of the team, contended that the decision to move the matches out of Hyderabad was in "grave breach" of the agreement which grants rights to the franchise to stage its home games at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal.
Taking strong objection to the "arbitrary and unilateral decision" to shift the games out of Andhra Pradesh, the Chargers reiterated that Hyderabad be re-allotted four matches and Vizag two. The Chargers saw no justification in shifting the rest of the games to Mumbai and Nagpur.
"The IPL has taken a unilateral decision to shift all our home matches out of Andhra Pradesh though the chief minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, the sports minister, Mr K. Venkat Reddy, and the DGP have assured us full protection in the conduct of these matches," the Deccan Chargers chairman, "The Telangana Joint Agitation Committee has also given us in writing that they want these matches to be held (as per schedule at home)," he added.
The Chargers allowed the inaugural game to be shifted to Mumbai as a special case, subject to confirmation of security cover by the Maharashtra police for the Australian players on the team in view of the threats issued by the Shiv Sena.
As against this, Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray on Monday said his party would not allow Australian cricketers to play in the IPL. "We would not allow them to set foot on Indian soil," he said. "Indians are being attacked in Australia. Therefore, I have said that we would not allow Australian cricketers to play in our country," Thackeray said while addressing party workers via a video link in Mumbai.
Mr Shankar voiced concerns over the statement. "We have several Australians in the lineup, including the support staff, whose safety has been threatened," he said.
The IPL commissioner, Mr Lalit Modi, chose not to comment on Deccan Chargers’ claim. Instead he chose his Twitter page to deny claims that Chelsea football club was interested in buying an IPL team. "Again, media jumps the gun... ignore such news," he tweeted.
Age Correspondent