Rising Pune Supergiant could go on to become another Aizawl FC if they win IPL 10

In less than a month, India could have two domestic sports teams that have won their respective leagues, but – in all probability – won’t be given a chance to defend their titles because of administrative decisions. Earlier this month, Aizawl Football Club’s unexpected title triumph in the I-League, the country’s top-tier competition, messed with the All India Football Federation’s plans to restructure its league.

The new 11-team league that is being proposed would consist of all eight franchises of the Indian Super League along with three clubs from the I-League that have sufficient financial backing, viz. East Bengal, Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan. Aizawl will most definitely not make the cut and their title triumph has put the AIFF in a spot of bother: How do you justify the relegation of India’s top-tier champions?

And now, we have a somewhat similar case in cricket as well. Rising Pune Supergiant have defied all odds to make it to the playoffs of the Indian Premier League this season. Two more wins and they could be IPL champions by the end of this week, in just their second season. However, RPS may not be able to defend their title next season since they [alongwith Gujarat Lions] are scheduled to be disbanded following this edition.

Two-year contract ends

The franchise was formed just two years ago and given a two-year contract, along with fellow newbies Gujarat Lions, in order to make up for the absence of the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Once CSK and RR return to the fold from next season after serving their two-year suspensions for their involvement in the 2013 spot-fixing and betting scandal, RPS and GL are due to be terminated, with IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla categorically stating that they will not be given a contract extension.

“Next year, as per the Supreme Court order, the two suspended teams would be back,” Shukla was quoted as saying recently. “The issue of whether eight or 10 teams will come up at the IPL Governing Council meeting. So far the plan is to go ahead with eight teams. A 10-team league has to be endorsed by the Governing Council. As of today, no extension is being given to both the teams [RPS and GL]. The agreement was only for two years. Even if we make it a 10-team league, the two new teams would have to be freshly bid for, so they are not being given any extension or anything.”

Going by Shukla’s statement, the owners of Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions will have to make a fresh bid in order to play in the IPL again next year. But RPS’ qualification for the playoffs must be leaving members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which controls the IPL, twitchy in their chairs. What if RPS wins the title? Do we still go ahead and disband them?

Even if the RPS owners do decide to go ahead and make a fresh bid, they will have lost their entire potentially title-winning squad, including the Rs 14.5 crore-worth Ben Stokes, who became the most expensive overseas purchase in the tournament’s history. RPS will have to purchase an entirely new squad next season.

Following their title triumph, Aizawl have approached the AIFF and have asked to be included in the top tier of the league if and when the restructuring happens. The club’s official Twitter account also said that they will resort to extreme measures such as “world-wide protests” and “sitting demonstrations” if their demand is not met.

The RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, which owns the Rising Pune Supergiant, have not come out and said anything about their imminent disbanding yet. Will that change if they win the IPL? Maybe. Maybe not. But even if it doesn’t, how does the BCCI plan to explain to fans of the franchise that their title-winning team has to shut shop not because they were embroiled in any scandal or because they breached their contract terms (read Deccan Chargers and Kochi Tuskers), but because they were merely a stopgap measure to keep up the numbers?

One might argue that the IPL is a two-month circus and does not really give fans the chance to develop team loyalties as much as a longer league such as, say, the Premier League in football, which goes on for nine months of the year. But tell that to fans of Chennai Super Kings, who have been eagerly waiting for their team’s re-entry into the IPL in spite of its involvement in one of the biggest corruption scandals to hit Indian cricket.

Even if RPS do not win the title, by finishing second in the table this season they have proved they are a competitive squad. Even Gujarat Lions had topped the table in the league stage last season before being knocked out in the playoffs. If BCCI wants the IPL to be taken seriously, it might want to reconsider its decision to not offer contract extensions to the two new franchises. Or else, they should just hope that RPS does not win the title this year.