MUMBAI: Blow hot, blow cold. That could be the approach of Sahara India as it announced that it would walk out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and withdraw from all sponsorships under India?s cricket board, while founder-promoter Subroto Roy indicated later in the day that a reconciliation could be possible if the BCCI adopted a flexible approach.

"We are not rigid," was the quick response from Roy during a press conference when asked whether there is ground for reconciliation. Roy also said that he will think "twice" about his decision if there is player?s interest at stake.

Will the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Sahara Group reconcile? Well, that could or could not be a possibility but if the noises emanating from both sides is any indication, then a patch-up is not that difficult a task. After all, there is a lot at stake for both parties.

Talking to Indiantelevision.com, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said that the BCCI is open to reconciliation with the Sahara Group, which had bought the IPL Pune franchise for a whopping $370 million and sponsored the Indian team at a fee of Rs 33 million per Test match, ODI and T20.

The BCCI, of which IPL is a sub-committee, has not received any official notice from the Sahara Group on termination of contract.

"Whatever we have heard is through the media. We haven?t received any notice from them," said Shukla.

"They have been our partners for a long time, we can sort out the differences with them (Sahara)," he added, while stressing that the IPL cannot change rules for just one franchise.

He also found comparison between Champions League and IPL unfair since the two are different tournaments altogether. IPL is a qualifying tournament for CL T20, which involves top clubs from six cricket playing nations.

Sahara had in a media statement stated that the BCCI had bended rules during last year?s CL T20 by allowing Mumbai Indians to replace their injured Indian player with a foreigner which meant that the team fielded five foreign players instead of the rules permitting only four to be part of the final eleven.

The company had requested the BCCI to allow it to carry the prize purse of Yuvraj Singh, who has been ruled out of IPL season 5 due to lung tumour, into the players auction which the BCCI flatly refused thereby triggering a strong reaction from the Lucknow headquartered group.

The IPL chairman said that the BCCI would have given the same concession to any other IPL team who had qualified for Champions League if they had been confronted with the same situation.

"That is not just Mumbai Indians. We would allow other franchises in Champions League to avail that facility, but IPL is a different case. They (Sahara) should not compare IPL with Champions League," Shukla affirmed.

Shukla also hinted that the IPL might go back to the original format if things don?t work with Sahara. "The IPL was originally an eight team event and was quite successful," Shukla revealed.

Earlier in the afternoon, Roy indicated that Sahara would be accommodative if the BCCI changed its inflexible approach. He was responding to a question at a press conference held in Mumbai.

Roy then went on to recount instances wherein the company went out of its way to accommodate BCCI?s requests which the latter never reciprocated.

Sahara had issued a statement in the morning stating that it was unhappy with the BCCI due to the fact that they haven?t taken into consideration any of its suggestion like having an open player auction, which according to Roy would have given all the teams an even playing field and strengthened the IPL.

He was also annoyed with the fact that they had to pay the same franchise fee despite the BCCI cutting down on the number of matches to 74 instead of the 94 matches that was promised during franchise auctions.

Roy believes the franchise was paying 25 per cent more franchise fee due to the cutting down of total matches. The company had also requested the BCCI to take the matter to an arbitrator and sort it out but the BCCI refused.

He also clarified that the company?s decision to back out of Team India?s sponsorship had nothing to do with team India?s performance, but more with the fact that it did not want to deal with a body with which it had fallen out.

Meanwhile, the BCCI in a statement today made it clear that rules would not be bent for any IPL franchise. It would, however, still reach out to its long-term partner "as soon as practicable to clarify its intentions".

"We understand that Sahara Adventure Sports Limited has issued a statement in which it indicates an intention to withdraw from its involvement in Indian cricket, including as regards the Indian Premier League. We intend to contact Sahara Adventure Sports Limited as soon as practicable to clarify its intentions," BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement.

"If we understand Sahara Adventure Sports Limited?s statement, it intends not to participate in the 2012 IPL Auction or in the 2012 IPL Season," the statement added.

"During the last few days Sahara Adventure Sports Limited has requested that IPL vary its Player Regulations by allowing it to increase its Auction Purse from $1.6 million to $3.4 million in light of Yuvraj Singh?s unfortunate illness. Whilst all within IPL and BCCI have a huge amount of sympathy for Yuvraj Singh and wish him all the best for a speedy recovery, it is unable to vary the Player Regulations," the BCCI insisted.

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) today announced the fifth transfer of the 2012 Trading window.

Andrew McDonald, the fast-medium bowling allrounder from Australia, will move from Delhi Daredevils to Royal Challengers Bangalore, for the 2012 season of the tournament. The all-rounder is leading the Melbourne Renegades in the ongoing Big Bash League in Australia.

Royal Challengers Bangalore team manager Avinash Vaidya said, ?All-rounders are a priceless asset and we are pleased to add Andrew to our squad. He has excelled with bat and ball in different formats. We have no doubt that he will make a big difference to our prospects in the coming IPL season."

GMR Sports head cricket TA Sekar wished the 30-year-old McDonald who played six matches for Delhi Daredevils, scoring 76 runs and taking five wickets the very best. "He would fit in well with the Royal Challengers Bangalore,? he said.

IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said, ?The process of player-transfers during the Trading Window is gaining in momentum, and we are likely to see more action in the days leading up to 20 January 2012, when the first part of the trading window will close?.

McDonald will move to Bangalore where he registered his most memorable performance in a T20 match on Indian soil where he claimed four Royal Challengers Bangalore wickets for 21 runs in a Champions League match for Victoria on 15 October, 2009.

The following trades have been confirmed earlier:

Dinesh Karthik from Kings XI Punjab to Mumbai Indians; R Satish from Mumbai Indians to Kings XI Punjab;
Harmeet Singh from Deccan Chargers to Kings XI Punjab; and Kevin Pietersen from Deccan Chargers to Delhi Daredevils.

MUMBAI: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is looking at setting up a television channel to back its proposed T20 league along the lines of the Indian Premier League.

The board, which many analysts feel has diminished in value as a property, plans to launch a franchise-based T20 tournament in the first quarter of next year The BCB expects that this tournament will be able to attract many high profile players from around the world and produce new players within the country.

The BCB will start the process of establishing a television channel, the board said. A committee has been formed to expedite the procedure.

The committee is headed by Media and comunications Committee chairman Mohammed Jalal Yunus. The other members are Dewan Shafiul Arefin and Siraj Uddin Md Alamgir.

MUMBAI: Cricket?s richest body, the BCCI, has made a net profit of Rs 1.9 billion in 2010-11, a 200 per cent increase in its surplus over the previous fiscal.

The net surplus amounted to an increase of over Rs 1.26 billion from 2009-10, including Rs 1.18 billion from the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The BCCI expects a surplus of a little over Rs 2.96 billion for the current fiscal, according to the board?s annual report.

The gross income in 2010-11, amounting to Rs 20.26 billion, has come from media rights (Rs 10.47 billion), sponsorships (Rs 4.34 billion), IPL franchise consideration (Rs 2.89 billion), receipts from International Cricket Council/Asian Cricket Council (Rs 1.05 billion), interest and other incomes (Rs 736.8 million and Rs 766.3 million).

Gross expenditure incurred by BCCI amounted to Rs 18.37 billion. The expenses included payments to franchises (Rs 3.90 billion), TV and infrastructure subsidy to affiliated associations (Rs 2.37 billion and Rs 1.31 billion) and IPL subvention (Rs 2.03 billion).

Hosting of the cricket World Cup won by India cost the BCCI Rs 669.7 million, BCCI said in its annual report.

MUMBAI: The shifting of the second edition of the the Indian Premier League to South Africa has cost the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) dearly.

Cricket?s richest body suffered a loss of Rs 420 million due to the event, resulting in drop in profits to Rs 212 million in 2009-10.

The BCCI has told the Income Tax Department that the IPL is losing money. The department is seeking to recover tax from the BCCI fully for the assessment year 2008-09. The BCCI has to pay taxes after it lost its tax exempt status.

The department had conducted first survey on the IPL in April last year and followed that with an investigation of IPL franchises. The BCCI made a profit of over Rs 3 billion in 2007-08 on an income of over Rs 10 billion. This was the first time that its income touched this level.

However, BCCI?s income fell by 28 per cent while profit fell by a huge 85 per cent in 2008 as result of the first edition of the IPL. Its surplus dropped to Rs 632 million in 2009-10, which was further worsened by the Rs 420 million loss mentioned earlier.

The profit could drop further as the assessment of income returns of 2009-10 are still pending. The BCCI is yet to submit accounts for the 2010 and 2011 IPL editions to the department. The IT Department gets revenue in the form of tax deducted at source (TDS) on payment to players, coach, umpires, commentators, event managers, besides other professionals.

The BCCI has paid Rs 1.31 billion in taxes for 2007-08 and Rs 1.18 billion in 2006-07.