Deccan Chargers Hyderabad were one of the eight founding members of the IPL, in 2008. They finished last in the first season. However, when the tournament shifted to South Africa next year to avoid a clash with the Indian general elections, the Chargers won the competition under the captaincy of Adam Gilchrist.
They went on to finish fourth the following year, before finishing a disappointing seventh in 2011 and bottom of the table again in 2012.
Four months after the 2012 season ended, the owner of the Chargers, Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL), decided to put the team up for sale. They faced financial problems and were unhappy about the way a number of their players had been banned during the time in the league.
The announced the sale of the team by public auction, but rejected the one bid they received because their bankers were unhappy with the plan to divide the bid amount to be paid in two parts over the next ten years.
The same day, without giving them time to renegotiate terms or to find a new bidder, the BCCI terminated the franchise, arguing that the owners had breached their codes. DCHL went to court in order to try and resolve their issues with the BCCI but, by then, it was too late.
A new bidding process was announced for the Hyderabad franchise, which was won by the Sun TV network in October 2012. The new team was known as the Sunrisers Hyderabad. They would go on to win the IPL in 2016.
However, in a postscript to the tale. In 2020, a court ordered the BCCI to pay INR 48 billion (USD 640 million) to the former owners of the Chargers or illegal termination of the franchise. The Mumbai High Court ruled that the termination was both illegal and premature.
Three years before that, the Kochi Tuskers Kerala had won a similar arbitration case over their won termination by the BCCI in 2011.