London, Nov 18 (IANS) India is being approached to sponsor Lord’s cricket ground - the Mecca of international cricket - the owners of the ground were quoted as saying Wednesday.
India will be approached for buying sponsorship rights as part of a 400 million pound redevelopment plan, Keith Bradshaw, chief executive of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which owns Lord’s, told The Times newspaper.

Bradshaw told the paper he hoped to sell sponsorship packages to India before exploiting naming rights. He conceded: “That is obviously an option but you reach a point at which you do not want to sell your soul.”

But Bradshaw later strenuously denied he will consider selling the naming rights for Lord’s.

“I just want to reassure people that there’s no way we would rename Lord’s. It’s the home of cricket, the hallowed turf. It’s not an option at all,” he said.

He told the BBC: “It’s something that we wouldn’t consider, and in fact I even have a real problem even considering renaming the stands within the ground that are now dedicated to famous cricketers.

The Times, in its main news story of the day, reported that the MCC planned to transform the195-year-old cricket ground into a “21st-century super-stadium” with 7,500 more seats and an underground cricket academy.

The revamp would offer naming rights for the cricket ground’s seven stands.

The paper said the idea of a sponsor-backed Lord’s was set to divide cricket fans, although similar moves are reportedly afoot in other sporting arenas in London.

The Football Association and the Rugby Football Union, understood to be seeking one million pound-a-year naming rights deals for Wembley Stadium and Twickenham. Chelsea Football Club are also looking at a deal for Stamford Bridge.