The Indian Premier League is now more than 16 years old. Clearly, it has a long history. In these 16 years, many teams came and went. Some of them were just forgotten thanks to their average performance, while some of them became legendary for their effective performances with whatever limited chances they got.
Some of them didn’t have a happy ending and were terminated just after one year. Though all the other top 10 teams are a part of IPL betting, these teams will not be featured.
So, which were these franchises, and who were the brains behind them? Why did they get terminated, leaving cricket fans and online cricket betting enthusiasts disappointed? In this article, we will try to answer all the questions.
Six IPL Franchisees Who Were Terminated and No Longer Part of IPL
We will begin with the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, who played just one season. We will then move to Pune Warriors India, who had played three seasons before being terminated from the tournament.
We will then look at the Deccan Chargers, who were terminated in 2012; the Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant will follow. Last but not least, we will take a look at the Delhi Daredevils. Here it must be mentioned that the team is not terminated and has undergone a rebranding process.
Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK):
The only IPL franchise to be terminated within a year:
- KTK was owned by a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World, which bought the franchise for USD 333.33 million.
- However, the BCCI terminated the franchise after Rendezvous Group defaulted on an annual payment of Rs 156 crore as a bank guarantee.
- The players went to the auction table in 2012, where they were picked by other teams.
- In the one season they played, they finished eighth, winning six and losing eight games.
Pune Warriors India (PWI):
Owned by Subroto Roy Sahara for USD 370 million:
- PWI was terminated in October 2013 after just three seasons.
- The BCCI had terminated the contract since the PWI owners had defaulted on their bank guarantee of Rs 170 crore for IPL 2014.
- The PWI owners had demanded that the BCCI reduce the franchise fee, which the BCCI rejected.
- PWI finished ninth in the 2011 and 2012 editions, respectively. In their last season, they again finished in second-last position.
Deccan Chargers (DC):
Owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings, the Hyderabad-based franchise won the IPL in 2009..
- But things quickly started to unravel as the franchise failed to pay the stipulated bank guarantee.
- It was also said that the franchise wasn’t able to pay player salaries.
- As a result, the BCCI terminated the franchise on September 14, 2012, and floated a new tender, with Chennai-based Sun Network winning the bid for the new Hyderabad franchise, now called Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Gujarat Lions (GL):
Named as a replacement for Rajasthan Royals (RR):
- Gujarat, based out of Rajkot, was brought into the IPL-fold for two years: 2016 and 2017.
- Suresh Raina was named skipper, and the team had some big names like Aaron Finch, Ravindra Jadeja, and Dwayne Bravo.
- They played some great cricket in 2016, finishing up as the table-toppers, but lost the eliminator to RCB.
- They finished seventh the following year.
- Once RR returned in 2018, the team was terminated.
Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS):
Similarly, Pune was brought into the IPL as a replacement for CSK, who were banned for two seasons following the spot-fixing scandal.
- The franchise was owned by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group.
- It was captained by MS Dhoni and had some top players like Faf du Plessis and Ravichandran Ashwin.
- The team had reached the final in 2017 after a mediocre performance in 2016.
- Once CSK returned in 2018, the team was terminated.
Delhi Daredevils (DD):
Unlike most of the franchises mentioned above, Delhi Daredevils weren’t terminated by the BCCI.
- In 2008, the Delhi franchise was bought by the GMR Group for USD 84 million.
- However, in March 2018, the GMR group sold a 50 percent stake to JSW Sports for INR 550 crore.
- After this move, the franchise rebranded itself as the Delhi Capitals, with a new jersey and a new coaching setup.
- They retained the players, with Shreyas Iyer being the captain.
Final Thoughts:
The Indian Premier League is a complex tournament with teams owned by a diverse set of owners. In some teams, you have one single owner, while in others, you have a group of owners.
The above-mentioned franchises had failed to generate the revenue that was needed to sustain themselves in a tournament like IPL.
For instance, teams like KTK and Deccan Chargers defaulted on their bank guarantee to the BCCI, while PWI had an ongoing tussle with the BCCI for a reduction of franchise fees.
As can be seen, there are a lot of gray areas in the financial dealings as far as IPL is concerned. And although the players moved on, it was the fans who were left behind. Cities like Kochi, Pune, and Rajkot never saw IPL action, with the fans being the sole losers.
