The BCCI, in principle, approved the inclusion of the two new teams for the Indian Premier League. In its 89th Annual General Meeting in Ahmedabad, the Governing Council was asked to chalk out the nitty-gritty of the plan.

The Board had earlier decided to incorporate at least two teams in the IPL, however, there were uncertainty on whether it will be done in 2021 or 2022 due to the pandemic. However, now the three member Governing Council - comprising chairman Brijesh Patel, Khairul Jamal Majumdar and Pragyan Ojha - have been asked to start the process. It is understood that the two teams will only be included for the 2022 edition.

Sportstar understands that there could be a cap of one franchise per state. The new franchises would be located in a state where no existing franchise has a home base, which includes Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and the union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh. That paves the way for cities like Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Lucknow, to have teams. There have been talks for quite a while that one of the top corporate groups of the country could own a team from Ahmedabad, while there could be another team from Lucknow.

In another decision, the BCCI announced that the stakeholders in domestic cricket - cricketers and officials - will be compensated in case domestic season is curtailed due to the pandemic. Efforts, however, are on to host as many tournaments as possible between February and May. The domestic tournament will begin on January 10, with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

In the AGM, Rajiv Shukla was elected unopposed as the vice-president.

It was also learnt that the general body decided in favour of Sourav Ganguly continuing as a director in the ICC Board. Secretary Jay Shah will be the alternate director as well as India''s representative at the Chief Executive Committee meets of the global body.

No decision on 2028 Olympics yet

Even though the BCCI discussed about the inclusion of T20 cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, it will take final call after seeking some clarifications from the International Olympic Committee. The matter will be discussed at a Special General Meeting in 2021.