Sahara ends up ties with BCCI and IPL, withdrawn from Pune warriors

New Delhi/Bangalore, Feb 4 : Indian cricket was today hit by a major sponsorship crisis after Sahara India ended its 11-year-old financial ties with the BCCI and also pulled out of the IPL by withdrawing from Pune Warriors’ ownership just hours before the players auction for the fifth edition.

Unfazed by the surprise development, the IPL authorities went ahead with the auction, saying that no written communication had come from Sahara about their pullout.

Sahara’s decision to severe all ties with the BCCI came as a surprise particularly at a time when the Board has been struggling to find long-term sponsors and the team’s miserable show in the tour of Australia and England.

The company, which has divested into various sectors, gave detailed reasons for its “emotional decision” to pull out from BCCI as well as the IPL and accused the Board of not giving due consideration to its genuine grievances.

Sahara had signed a renewed agreement with the BCCI on July 1, 2010 till December 31, 2013 and was paying Rs 3.34 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 BCCI and are exiting with a heavy heart,” Sahara said in a statement.

“It was an emotional decision for us to start this sponsorship but our emotions were never appreciated and many genuine situations were not given due consideration at all,” the statement read.

Sahara, which entered the cash-rich IPL bandwagon last year along with the now-disbanded Kochi Tuskers Kerala, bought Pune Warriors for 1702 crore last year. The company complained that several requests put forth by it with regards to players and the number of matches were not accepted by the BCCI.

The BCCI, on its part, appeared to be nonchalant about Sahara’s decision and said it would react only when it gets written communication.

PTI