KKR’s Shah Rukh Khan Engages In Heated Debate With Punjab Kings’ Ness Wadia During BCCI-IPL Meeting: Report

Mumbai: Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Shah Rukh Khan and Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia had a heated exchange on Wednesday during the BCCI-IPL team owners meeting, according to reports. The BCCI had invited all the franchise owners at its headquarters for a meeting ahead of IPL 2025 with several top things on the agenda.

Based on a PTI report, SRH and Wadia were believed to have had a heated debate on whether to have a mega auction or not for IPL 2025. The last time an IPL mga auction happened was in 2022 which was conducted over two days.

The other team owners or co-owners who attended the meeting were Kavya Maran from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sanjiv Goenka with his son Shashwat from Lucknow Super Giants, KK Grand and Parth Jindal from Delhi Capitals, Manoj Badale and Ranjit Barthakur from Rajasthan Royals, Prathamesh Mishra from Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kasi Viswanathan and Rupa Gurunath from Chennai Super Kings, Amit Soni from Gujarat Titans. Mumbai Indians’ owners attended it online.

Meanwhile, the IPL team owners were divided in their opinions on issues ranging from the mega auction to the impact substitute player rule. With the mega auction slated to be held ahead of the 18th edition of the T20 league next year, the BCCI had called for a meeting here at its headquarters to discuss the pointers and secretary Jay Shah confirmed the same after the meeting.

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday organised a constructive dialogue with the owners of the 10 franchises on various subjects pertaining to the upcoming season of the IPL,” Shah said in a release. “The franchise owners tabled feedback on player regulations and other commercial aspects, including central merchandising, licensing, and gaming.

“The BCCI will now take these recommendations to the IPL Governing Council for further deliberation and evaluation before formulating the IPL player regulations,” Shah added in the release. Teams are not likely to be allowed to retain more than five players with one Right to Match (RTM) card.

The RTM card gives a franchise the opportunity to match the final bid of a player from their squad of the previous season. The BCCI secretary later confirmed to the media that the board will be taking its decisions soon on all the points that were discussed.

With PTI Inputs