Chennai Super Kings, the Chennai based franchise, arguably the best Team of the IPL so far and Rajasthan Royals, who under Shane Warne won the first season of the Indian Premier League, now into its tenth edition, are making a comeback in the next edition of the IPL, after serving a two year ban.
For the uninitiated, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were banned for two years after the spot fixing and betting scandal shook the league back in 2014. The Dhoni-led Chennai were arguably the best Team in the tournament, winning the title twice and making to the Finals a record six times. Rajasthan Royals, under Shane Warne, surprised one and all by winning the first edition of the league.
Back in December 2015, the BCCI had announced that CSK and RR would make a comeback to the league as planned, in 2018. Hence, as per the plan, CSK and RR will make a comeback next year. However, a new strong rumor has been doing rounds since today morning. And if the rumor has its way, the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals could replace the Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) and Gujarat Lions (GL) as the BCCI is currently in no mood to clutter the tournament with ten Teams and complicate the format. If true, it’s bad news for Pune and Gujarat fans, more so for Pune fans, since this will be the second time a Pune based franchise will be taken down by the BCCI. It’s worth mentioning that Subrato ROy-owned Pune Warriors India (PWI) had to face the axe because the owners failed to pay the security money to the BCCI back in 2013.
The RPS and GL were the two new Teams that had replaced the banned CSK and GL for IPL 2016. While the Dhoni-led RPS didn’t make any impact whatsoever last season, they have fared a lot better in this season under Steven Smith even as Gujarat Lions have failed to make any impact whatsoever so far.
However, having said this, this is still a rumor and we suggest you to take this with a pinch of salt. It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out in the coming days. We will wait for an official confirmation from the BCCI.
