Cracking the whip for breach of contractual terms, the BCCI on Monday terminated the

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contract of IPL franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala, a move which has prompted the controversial Kerala team to threaten legal action against the Cricket Board.

The decision to terminate Kochi franchise was taken at the BCCI’s annual general meeting here, thus abruptly ending the franchise’s association with the cash-rich league which will now be a nine-team affair. “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,” new BCCI president N Srinivasan told reporters after the AGM.

Asked if the BCCI would reconsider its decision and give the franchise a chance to return, Srinivasan bluntly rejected such a suggestion.”No, we have terminated the franchise because the breach is not capable of being remedied,” he clarified.

The consortium, which was mired in a bitter ownership dispute since its very inception, defaulted on a Rs 156 crore annual payment it was to make as bank guarantee despite reported reminders from the IPL authorities.

Kochi Tuskers are in no mood to take the BCCI’s decision lying down and made it clear that they would take legal recourse. “The BCCI notice is wrong, (it was) prima facie. We will take legal action against them after our legal team reviews the case in a day or two. Maybe we have to move court,” Kochi Tusker chairman Mukesh Patel said. “We have never defaulted. The BCCI will be paying us Rs 12-15 crore next month as a part of our central revenue,” Patel added. Patel was miffed that the BCCI did not cut down the franchise fees despite reducing the number of matches in IPL 4 from 94 to 74 due to packed international calendar. “The number of games in tender document was 94, they then reduced it to 74 but did not reduce the franchise fees.”

The franchise, which was bought for Rs 1,550 crore, was supposed to make the yearly payment for the next 10 years. Kochi’s termination means the 10-team tournament would be reduced to nine.