Sahara withdraws sponsorship of Indian cricket team; leaves ownership of IPL team

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Feb 5, 2012: The fifth season of the millon-dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday began despite a surprise move by the Indian cricket team’s longtime sponsor Sahara India, which ended financial ties with the BCCI and also pulled out of the IPL by withdrawing from Pune Warriors’ ownership just hours
before the players’ auction.

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.

This year, all the franchises have been allowed to spend an additional $2 million with the increased sizes of squad from 30 to 33 and the 144 cricketers from 11 countries will go under the hammer in Bangalore.

However, none of the owners came for the customary auction-eve briefing by the IPL authorities on Friday, pointing to the relatively low-key affair it is expected to be this time around. The big auction having taken place last year, this one would largely be about players left stranded after the BCCI terminated the Kochi Tuskers’ contract following breach of terms of agreement.

And the man whose name is on everyone’s lips is the 23-year-old Saurashtra all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja, who played for Kochi last season and is expected to fetch the highest price this time around.

Out of the 147 names that had been finalised till Friday, the franchises are expected to select only one-fifth of the players. Wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, paceman Vinay Kumar, New Zealand opener Brendon McCullum and Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who played for Kochi last year, are expected to fetch good money. But VVS Laxman, whose fortunes have dipped, may go unsold.

Six of the franchises have the full $2 million purse to spend, but this time it will be about correcting the ‘mistakes’ of last year.

Courtesy: NDTV