According to sources, many franchises are unhappy that the IPL did not follow past precedent and come up with an alternate 'home' venue for the Chennai Super Kings.
Apart from being disappointed at not being made a party in the decision-making process, franchises are worried the move to retain Chennai as a venue gives CSK — whose Sri Lankan recruits are not expected to feature in the first XI on a regular basis — an added advantage.
Many other teams with Sri Lankans in key roles will now have to leave out these players when they play in Chennai and hence will not be able to field their best XI.
There is past precedent for IPL venues being switched at the last minute. In 2009, the entire tournament was shifted out of India to South Africa after the government expressed inability to provide security because of the general elections.
In 2010, the semifinals were shifted out of Bangalore to Mumbai weeks after a league game was played at Chinnaswamy Stadium on the day of a blast outside the stadium premises.
Also in 2010, Deccan Chargers were forced to play all their home matches outside Hyderabad — in Cuttack, Mumbai and Nagpur — because of protests over the Telengana issue.
Although it is not mandatory for the IPL governing council (GC) to involve franchises in every decision-making process, sources say franchises are worried that retaining Chennai as a venue gives CSK — which is owned by BCCI president N Srinivasan — an "unfair advantage" since their Lankan recruits Nuwan Kulasekara and Akhila Dhananjaya are not central to the team's plans.
A team like Delhi Daredevils, in contrast, is led by Lankan star Mahela Jayawardene, while Pune Warriors is led by Angelo Mathews and also boast Ajantha Mendis in their ranks.
Kumar Sangakkara is captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad and is also expected to be their wicketkeeper. Royal Challengers Bangalore also have two key Lankan players in Tillekeratne Dilshan and Muttiah Muralitharan.
While these franchises have said that they might put their foot down over leaving out Sri Lankan players in the 'eliminator' stage, in the league stages, they may have to bow to GC's diktat.
Four out of five IPLs so far have seen venue-related controversies
2009: IPL goes to SA
IPL had to be shifted out of the country, to South Africa, due to general elections. With IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in the hot seat, and the tournament only in its second year, the decision was taken by the governing council in less than two weeks. IPL in SA turned out to be a huge hit to BCCI's relief but sparked rumours of a rift between some board officials and some powerful ministers in the UPA.
2010: Telangana turmoil
The state of Andhra Pradesh burned as the agitation for the separate state of Telganga grew and led to massive violence. Hyderabad, caught in the middle of all the ire and controversy, was deemed unsafe to host IPL matches. The governing council quickly shifted Hyderabad's share of home matches to Visakhapatnam in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Cuttack in Orissa and hosts Deccan Chargers had no choice but to oblige.
2011: God's own country
The $333.33m worth Kochi franchise, bought by a consortium of investors, erupted into a massive controversy following Lalit Modi's disclosure that junior cabinet minister Shashi Tharoor's friend Sunanda Pushkar was holding sweat equity in the team. While the media intensely covered the mess, the BCCI also had to take the uncomfortable decision of shifting some of Kochi's home matches to Indore because of venue-related issues in the state of Kerala.
2012-2013 : Royal mess
Between 2012 & 2013, Rajasthan Royals were time and again under pressure to play their home matches in the sixth edition of the IPL in Gujarat - Ahmedabad and Baroda - following political bickering in the state of Rajasthan. The ruling congress government in the state clashed with the state cricket association and with the matter pending before the BCCI for long, Royals were almost on the verge of being forced to relocate.
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