Sahara India on Saturday pulled the plug on its multi-million-dollar team sponsorship deal with the BCCI and also walked out of its IPL franchise Pune Warriors. The decision was taken just hours before the auction of players for the IPL’s fifth edition, which was boycotted by Pune Warriors.
Sahara said its decision was a result of several disagreements with the BCCI, starting with their first sponsorship deal with the Indian team in 2001, but that the immediate trigger was not being allowed an increase in their purse for the auction in Bengaluru.
“Relations have soured dramatically over the last few years since IPL’s inception. We had simply asked for an increase in our auction purse from $1.6m to $3.4m, because our main player (Yuvraj Singh) is unfortunately unwell,” Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy said here. “When the request was refused, we had had enough. It was yet again a case of the BCCI denying us natural justice.”
IPL governing council chairman Rajeev Shukla said the BCCI had yet to receive anything in writing from Sahara, and made it clear that rules would not be bent for anyone. “We will contact Sahara as soon as practicable to clarify its intentions,” a BCCI release said.
Sahara said it will pay the sponsorship money to the BCCI for the “two to four months” it would take to find a new sponsor. Mr Roy said he was not “rigid” and was open to negotiations with the BCCI.