Sahara truce throws up more questions

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The BCCI working committee, which met here on Monday, failed to arrive at a consensus with regard to the Pune Warriors’ (Sahara) pullout from the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League and Sahara’s threat to withdraw as principal sponsor of the Indian cricket team.

“We had a meeting with the chairman of Sahara yesterday. His views had to be decided by the working committee today.

We have communicated the response of the working committee to the matters raised by Sahara and we hope that their response will be favourable. Sahara’s withdrawal from the IPL is mere speculation and I cannot comment on that.

The BCI-IPL has no objection in Sahara getting a strategic partner for the Pune franchise and also seek a replacement player for Yuvraj Singh,” said BCCI president Srinivasan.

Elaborating BCCI’s stance on the issue, Srinivasan said: “I believe the matter will be discussed in private between Sahara and BCCI and contractual issues cannot be discussed in public.

There are issues in regard to the number of matches that was played last year, there are issues surrounding the quantum of the bank guarantee given by Sahara to the BCCI. Non availability of some players and their replacements has also been raised.

The BCCI has responded positively within its framework of rules and at the same time it is not possible to create an exception because observance of the regulations is strictly important to the integrity of the league.”

It is reliably learnt that the board and Sahara have hit a deadlock and there is no easy way out. Most of the demands from Sahara (IPL) are unlikely to be accepted by the BCCI and in turn it could well affect the continuity of Sahara as the main partner of the national team.

However Sahara had made their stance clear stating that they will continue to support the team until the board is able to close in on a new sponsor.

Corporates like Hero Honda, Airtel and Videocon have reportedly shown interest but it remains to be seen what price they would be willing to pay for the same.

The response from BCCI was not any different from what it has been for a while on this particular subject. “The position is what it was. As I said we had responded to what Sahara has raised as issues.

Then, it is up to them,” said Srinivasan. Sahara has been the sponsor of all BCCI teams from 2001-02 right after the government decided to ban tobacco advertisement in sports. “For the properties we have, I think, we have adequate sponsors. We may have problems but are willing to walk the extra mile with them,” added Srinivasan.

In a Nutshell

* Rejection of Lord Woolf’s recommendations in restructuring the ICC
* No enquiry to be conducted on India’s performance (Tests) in Australia. Coach and selectors will evaluate what needs to be done at the end of the tour.
* BCCI willing to look into the queries raised by sponsors.
* State of the art national academy to set up in BCCI owned land in Bengaluru at the cost of Rs 100 crore. Still not clear whether the new facility will replace the NCA or run concurrently.
* No relaxation in rules for Sahara as far as the IPL is concerned.
* Pune Warriors are allowed a replacement for Yuvraj Singh and can also have a strategic partner.
* All matches in the Ranji Trophy (including league stage) to be played in neutral venues.

Sahara not happy

The Sahara Group on Monday accused the BCCI of leaking information about their Sunday meeting in Mumbai and sought to give their version of events. A statment issued by the group also stated that they did not agree with BCCI’s constant refrain of going by the rulebook.

“Subrata Roy (Sahara Group chairman) requested the BCCI officials not to elaborate on the rules by saying that any disagreement in sports should be taken in perfect sporting spirit and should be resolved accordingly,” the statement read.

“He further requested the BCCI president and his team that there is no point in quoting the rule book and debating it word by word. After all, they were BCCI’s own rules and not some constitutional rules of the Government of India.”

The BCCI-ICC standoff continues

The BCCI’s working committee rejected the key recommendations of the Woolf report concerning the restructuring of the ICC. “The working committee discussed all the main recommendations of the report submitted to the ICC by a committee headed by Lord Woolf.

The committee was of the opinion that these recommendations were not acceptable and rejected them,” said N. Srinivasan. The BCCI did not especially agree to the changes in structure of the management of the ICC.

The decision however should come as no surprise as the Indian board was never in favour of the changes from the start.

Apart from recommending a change in the executive board the Woolf report also called for more transparency in day to day running of the ICC.