The long drawn deadlock between Sahara (owners of IPL franchise, Puner Warriors) and BCCI has been resolved according to sources. BCCI president, N. Srinivasan had earlier said that no rules would be bent to accommodate the demands of Sahara but BCCI would be willing to work within their framework to help the franchise.
It has been reliably learnt that Sahara had requested for three marquee players (Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag and any other in case of Yuvraj Singh not regaining fitness) for IPL 6. And in addition to that they had also requested for a fresh auction of overseas players for the next season as they had missed out on a most big names. It is also learnt that the BCCI has not said a firm yes but are willing to look into the matter. Sahara entered the lucrative league only in season 4 along with Kochi Super Tuskers.
Among the various demands put forth by Sahara, BCCI had agreed to them having a strategic partner and a replacement player for Yuvraj. Sahara had also requested for a budget allocation of $3.8 million instead of $2 million (including $1.8million paid to Yuvraj), for the latest auction held in Bengaluru.
The corporate who have been principal sponsor of the national team for more than a decade had however promised payments to all their players irrespective of participation in IPL 5. If Pune had to withdraw then their list of contracted players would have been forced to miss the entire season.
“They (Sahara) have put players’ interest ahead of everything else. To conduct another auction and try and place them in different teams at this hour would be a difficult task and now it is almost certain they would go ahead and play this season. As far their future is concerned it is anyone’s guess,” said a source close to both the BCCI and Sahara.
“With the number of matches increased this season, the host broadcasters have already made their projections to clients and all that would have gone down the drain and made life tough for all. I am sure Sahara has taken all that into consideration and acted in the best interest of the game,” added the source.