Thaindian News

Mumbai, Feb 4 (IANS) Sahara India chief Subroto Roy Saturday said it was the one-sided and arbitrary attitude of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that drove them to despair and end all their cricket activities.

Sahara India pulled the plug off its multi-million-dollar team sponsorship with the BCCI and also walked out of its IPL franchise Pune Warriors, claiming they have been denied natural justice yet again.

Sahara’s decision came hours before the IPL 2012 auction in Bangalore and there was no one from Pune Warriors team bidding.

Defending Sahara’s decision to end its 11-year-old relationship with BCCI, Roy said: “The decision we took to end ties was not a bad one at all. We had enough of it. Any relationship does not break on one single issue only. We had a long relationship. It has to do with many issues and has happened continuously.”

Roy said Sahara’s problems with the BCCI started from 2008 when their bid for one of the first eight IPL franchises was disqualified “owing to a small technicality on the whims and fancies of BCCI”.

“There were so many genuine things we had but they (BCCI) did not give heed to such a small thing like opening the bid. They did not open the bid (when Sahara had submitted its bid for the first time). Rules were broken for other teams but we were not given natural justice,” said Roy.

Roy also said that Sahara even requested the BCCI to settle all the issues through arbitration and had also proposed the name of an eminent lawyer as an arbitrator, but the board didn’t pay any heed.

“We even approached the BCCI for arbitration and even proposed the name of the arbitrator,” he said.

Roy also said that Sahara India paid 25 percent extra when it bought the Pune franchise in 2010 for $370 million. When the two new franchises were up for sale, they were promised 94 matches but the 2011 edition was limited to 74 matches.

“Had it been 94 matches then the gate money to collection of advertisement money would have been 25 percent more. We have paid 25 percent more. Differential amount is 25 percent of the total amount,” he said.

Roy said Sahara has asked BCCI to look for a new buyer for Pune Warriors at the earliest.

“Money is not an issue for me. But I don’t want the players to suffer. They should not miss this season. We have asked BCCI to look for a buyer for Pune Warriors at the earliest,” he said.

The Sahara chief also said that his group would continue sponsoring the cricket team for two-four months before BCCI finds a new sponsor.

“We want the separation to be amicable so we will continue our sponsorship deal for another two-four months before BCCI gets a new sponsor,” he said.