Confirmed: CSK and RR to replace these two teams in IPL 2018!

Bengaluru: There is a good as well as a bad news for the Cricket lovers across the country as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be making their way back in the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) replacing Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) and Gujarat Lions (GL).

Confirming the same, GL owner Keshav Bansal said that IPL 2018 will be an eight-team affair in which Gujarat and Pune will be defunct for re-entry of CSK and RR.

"As we speak today, the contract states that the two new teams Pune and Gujarat will go out, so that's the fact of the matter," Bansal said.

"It was very clear at the time we bought the team that we will be having just two years in the league and after completion of the period, we will be making way for the earlier teams," he added.

It may be recalled that the RM Lodha panel, in 2015, had suspended CSK and RR for two years for their involvement in 2013 match-fixing scandal.

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Due to the void created due to the decision, the reverse bidding process was followed in which New Rising Consortium group bought the Pune side for minus 16 crores and Intex bought the Rajkot side for minus 10 crores in December 2015.

Gujarat Lions marked a great IPL debut in 2016 topping the table after the league stage. They, however, could not reach into the final, following defeats to RCB and SRH in the playoffs.

Rising Pune Supergiant on the other hand had a nightmare tournament as they finished second last in the points table with only five wins out of 14 matches.

In 2017, the things have overturned as GL is on the verge of getting knocked out with only 6 points out of 10 matches played so far, while RPS is very much on its way to enter the playoffs having 12 points in 10 matches.