Oommen Chandy bats for Kochi Tuskers

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Kerala Chief minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday strongly backed Rendezvous Sports bid to revive its T20 team which was thrown out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) last September after it defaulted on an annual payment of Rs 156 crore as bank guarantee.

Mr Chandy wrote a letter to IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla urging him to consider KTK owner's request for reviving the team.

Earlier in the day, Chandy spoke to Shashi Tharoor MP over phone and requested him to take up the matter with Shukla.

The chief minister intervened after representatives of Rendezvous Sport along with the Kerala cricket association secretary T.C. Mathew met him and sought his support for reviving the KTK team.

Chandy said he was quite keen on having the Kerala team in the forthcoming IPL season 5, considering the aspirations of the cricket fans across the state.

Since the players’ auction for the IPL season 5 is taking place in Bangalore on Saturday, KTK owners are literally running out of time.

The owners were making every effort, including legal, to ensure that KTK players don’t go under the hammer. The team owners are also pinning their hopes in the court and cite the example of Kings XI Punjab who were successful after going to the court.

Speaking to DC over phone from Mumbai, team owner Shailendra Gaikwad said the bank guarantee of Rs 155 crore was ready.