Not only will the Indian cricket board have to look for a broadcast partner, it is now also left without its main team sponsor and IPL franchisee owner of Pune Warriors, Sahara India. After its fallout with its broadcast partner Nimbus a couple of months ago, its team sponsor for 11 years, Sahara India, has terminated its associations with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Sahara pulled out of its renewed three-and-half year sponsorship agreement with 22 months to go before the due date of December 31, 2013. Sahara India has also pulled out of its IPL franchisee team Pune Warriors after just one season over differences with BCCI and the rules governing IPL.
?BCCI will take two-four months to get a new sponsor and we will continue paying the sponsorship money till then. All other IPL team players, coaches and associates will get their due this year, in case they do not get a chance to play,? Sahara said.
The Sahara decision, which was made public through a media release, caught everyone, including the BCCI, unawares. The announcement of their decision came minutes before the IPL player auction was set to commence in Bangalore.
Sahara, which has been the team sponsor for 11 years, signed a renewed agreement with the BCCI on July 1, 2010, till December 31, 2013. Sahara was paying R3.34 crore per Test match, one-day international and Twenty20 International under the new terms.
? …after an 11-year journey as sponsors, we can say with surety that cricket has become very rich. Many rich people are there to support cricket with a strong will to do so. So, with absolute peace of mind we can exit from cricket under the BCCI and with a heavy heart,? Sahara India said in a statement, which was issued by Sushanto Roy, the managing director of Sahara Adventure Sports Limited.
Sahara termed its decision to exit all forms of cricket association with the BCCI ?emotional?.
?Our emotions were never appreciated and many genuine situations were not given due consideration at all,? Sahara said in the statement.
Sahara, which entered the cash-rich IPL bandwagon last year, along with the now-disbanded Kochi Tuskers Kerala, complained that several requests put forth by it with regards to players and the number of matches were not accepted by the BCCI.
?Our first entry into IPL was thwarted in 2008 when we were disqualified, owing to a small technicality on the whims and fancies of BCCI. Yet our bid was not opened,? the statement said.
?Last year, Sahara entered the IPL on the basis of information in the media and everywhere else that 94 matches will be played among 10 teams. The bid price was accordingly calculated, but only 74 matches were played. We are still pursuing continuously with the BCCI to refund the extra bid money proportionately. It has been denied on the basis of strict rules. In the interest of the tournament, we repeatedly tried our best to pursue the BCCI for open auction of all players so that we achieve level-playing field and all teams are equally balanced from the quality players? point of view. Again, as per BCCI?s strict rules it was denied, and again we were deprived of natural justice. As many as 12 of the best players were retained by the existing teams then,? it added. ?The two new teams then requested for allowing us at least one extra foreign player but that too was denied, quoting rules,? Sahara alleged.
On its part, BCCI termed the Sahara exit from Indian cricket team sponsorship and IPL?s Pune Warriors as ?unfortunate?. However, Rajeev Shukla, the IPL chairman, and one of the BCCI vice-presidents, said that the board needed a formal intimation in writing from Sahara before they could decide on a future course of action.
Officials from the Warriors were not present at the auction either, but Sundar Raman, the IPL CEO, made it clear that they had the right to stay away. ?There is no action that is required to be taken because it is not mandatory for them to sit in the auction,? Raman said.
Sahara listed a slew of instances in which he felt Sahara?s requests were not entertained by the BCCI, most of which concerned the IPL. Among them was their disqualification from bidding for a franchise in 2008 and their attempts to reduce the franchise fee when the number of matches was cut down from 94 to 74 for the 2011 IPL. Their most recent concern was over the availability of Yuvraj Singh, the Pune captain, who is undergoing treatment for a non-malignant tumour in his lungs and will not be able to participate in the fifth season,
According to the BCCI, Sahara wanted the amount of Yuvraj?s contact added to their auction purse, giving them $3.4 million in total, but the IPL was not prepared to do that. ?The rules are very clear and are consistent with previous seasons: Sahara Adventure Sports Limited may take a replacement following the 2012 Auction,? the BCCI said in a statement of its own. ?Additionally, the trading window will re-open on February 6 and Sahara Adventure Sports Limited will then have a further opportunity to take new players.?
But the BCCI officials also took pot-shots at Sahara terming some of their demands as ?efforts to bend the rules to suit their needs?. Sahara?s key player in the IPL, Pune Warrior skipper Yuvraj Singh, is currently recovering from tumour in the lungs. His unavailability in IPL-5 prompted Sahara to ask the BCCI that the price of the batsman be added to their overall purse for the players? auction but the request was turned down.
Sahara is apparently also unhappy with the fact that Royal Challengers Bangalore were allowed to buy replacement player Chris Gayle this season.
