BCCI softens stand on Sahara pull-out, ready for talks

Feb 06, 2012 |

IANS

New Delhi

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The Indian cricket board is out to placate the irate Sahara India, who in a knee-jerk reaction decided to end their 11-year-old association as Team India sponsors and also pulled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Pune Warriors.

The board's devil-may-care tone was missing when IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said 'back channel negotiations' are on with Sahara to sort out the issue amicably.

"We have not yet officially heard anything from Sahara on the pull-out, but the board is ready to discuss the corporate's grievances," Shukla said. "After all, we have had a long and fruitful association."

An optimistic Shukla refused to treat the issue as closed, and said: "Pune Warriors are still part of the IPL and their genuine grievances would be addressed to their satisfaction."

Shukla said the board would like to hear out Sahara first before taking any decision. In any case, decisions cannot be taken on the spur of the moment because of a festering problem.

"They have been our partner for 12 long years and we cannot take any decision in a haste. We are hopeful of finding a solution soon," he said.

Shukla, however, was clear that no IPL rule would be bent to accommodate any team, let alone Sahara.

"We cannot change any rule in the IPL to favour a team. It would have been unfair for other IPL franchises," he said.

Sahara chairman Subrata Roy addressed a news conference in Mumbai Saturday after his corporate first announced it was withdrawing the sponsorship of Team India and then also that Pune Warriors were pulling out of the IPL.

The group's grouse is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not show the respect a commercial partner should be shown by ignoring some of their genuine concerns with regard to the Pune Warriors.

Sahara signed a fresh sponsorship contract with the BCCI July 1, 2010, and it runs till December 31, 2013. According to the contract, Sahara will pay Rs.3.34 crore per Test match, one-day international and Twenty20 international under the new terms and the contract was worth around Rs.532 crore.

Sahara bought the IPL franchise Pune Warriors for Rs.1,702 crore, making it the most expensive franchise in the Twenty20 league. In all, the BCCI stands to lose around Rs.2,234 crore.

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