Chennai Super Kings, which has been banned from playing in the Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament for two years, has approached the Madras High Court seeking an interim stay on the suspension.

The Supreme Court-appointed Justice RM Lodha Committee recommended a two-year suspension of CSK and Rajasthan Royals as the team officials were found to be involved in betting. It also banned for life Gurunath Meyappan, a former team official of CSK, from any involvement in cricket.

In its affidavit filed on Thursday, CSK said neither the management of CSK nor any player was found guilty of betting or match fixing. Meyyappan never had shares in India Cements, which owned CSK at that time, nor was he in the company’s management. CSK said the committee’s order went against the fundamental principles of natural justice and fair hearing. The non-compliance of this is evident from a finding that the only task left was imposition of appropriate punishment on the franchise without going into the charges or the offence committed.

The team’s top players like MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo would be contracted to play for any other IPL team for the forthcoming season. CSK will lose their services, perhaps for ever. The other star players will also picked by other franchises at various price points, the affidavit said.

CSK will also lose its right to retain players and will have to start from scratch to build a team with the available talent when allowed back into the league.

The pool of players available then will be depleted and the team will have to make do with what is available, irrespective of whether such a team of players would form an effective combination that can compete with the rest of the teams, the affidavit said.

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