MUMBAI:The controversies at the very popular global cricket and cash-rich the Indian Premier League (IPL) continue. Following the spot fixing controversy last week, now it is the turn of one of the franchisees Pune Warriors to pull out of the IPL completely. The multibillion dollar Sahara India group, (whose promoter Subrata Roy is currently battling Sebi and its allegations of alleged fraud) which owned the franchise, announced that it was snapping its association with the IPL. It took this decision following the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) insistence on encashing Sahara?s bank guarantee after it failed to pay the franchise fee for this year?s edition of the IPL.

Sahara had bought the franchise for a huge Rs 1,700 crore back for 10 years in 2010 and had later asked that the franchisee fee be trimmed as the number of matches had come down from the 94 promised to 64 only.
 
While announcing its withdrawal from the IPL, it said that it was disgusted by the BCCI?s attitude towards it and will not rejoin the league even if the entire franchise fee was waived.

In a statement the company said, "It is a firm and final decision of Sahara to withdraw from IPL."

"In 2010, Sahara had bid Rs 1,700 crore for the IPL franchise on the basis of revenue calculation on 94 matches. It was tricky on the part of BCCI to put the number in media as 94 matches for getting bigger amount. But we got 64 matches only".

Sahara claimed that the BCCI turned a deaf ear to its pleadings for arbitration and reducing the franchise fee.

"We and Kochi Team immediately protested and requested BCCI to reduce the bid price proportionately for a viable IPL proposition. Nothing was heard. We waited with confidence that such a sports body should have sportsmanship spirit."

"We continuously requested BCCI for arbitration from June 2011. But BCCI is only concerned about money and not about the genuine interests of the franchisee. Thus, (when) we could not penetrate BCCI?s deaf ears, we announced our withdrawal in February 2012," it added.

However Sahara will continue to sponsor the Indian cricket team. "There is a very strong urge in us to withdraw from the Indian Cricket Team Sponsorship from today only. But, interest of the players will suffer if we do so."

"We share an excellent relationship with the players and will not want such dedicated and good human beings who serve the country so committed to get harmed financially due to unsporting attitude of BCCI," the Group said.

"So we have given time to BCCI to get the new sponsorship in place from January 2014, as we will continue the national team?s sponsorship only up to December 2013 that?s the expiry date of the present agreement."

The group, however, assured the players and the stakeholders that their dues would be cleared in time.
 
"Sahara assures its players and stakeholders that their Fees and other rightfully due payments will be protected and under no circumstances will they suffer.

"Sahara also assures its sponsors and other supporters who have shown faith in us that their obligations have and will be fulfilled and there will be no compromise on their status or rights," it said.

It may be recalled that Sahara had threatened to pull out earlier over the same issue in 2010 but was persuaded to stay on after Shah Rukh Khan had intervened. With this the two franchises that had arrived around two years ago - Pune and Kochi are gone.

The IPL for now is back to being an eight team affair.
Former commissioner and creator of the IPL Lalit Modi was quite acerbic about the BCCI?s attitude on Twitter.

Tweeted he: "A year ago I had said that Sahara would pull out from the IPL and Indian cricket. BCCI high-handedness is the issue like I said. Sahara is right in doing what they are doing. Sahara did more for Indian cricket than anyone else. If you don?t treat franchisees equal, this is bound to happen. Sahara paid $37 million a year and a new Hyderabad to pay just a few million dollars a year ? off (sic) course one will smell something."

MUMBAI: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the supreme court. It wants a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the ongoing spot-fixing scandal.

The petitioner has asked for a stay on the tournament until the probe is complete.

The sixth edition of the IPL concludes on Sunday 26 May. Three players from the Rajasthan Royals franchise S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested on charges of spot fixing and are being questioned by the police.

The franchise will file an FIR against the three players. They were advised to do so by the BCCI which convened an emergency meeting. In a statement the franchise said, "We, along with the BCCI and other IPL franchises, take a zero tolerance approach to spot or game fixing. The impact on the game, our team, and our franchise has been devastating. It is critical that this evil is rooted out of the game, and as such we will be filing FIR?s with the Delhi police, based on the information provided. This will ensure that justice is pursued to its most complete end, and that the police are able to appropriately conduct their investigation. The reputational impact on the franchise, our players, our stakeholders, and the game has been immense. The actions must be punished."

The franchise also requested the media to show due restraint in the reporting of the events as it relates to its other players. The enforcement directorate (ED) reports indicate will also probe the spot-fixing case to find out if there was any money laundering involved.

Meanwhile the BCCI in damage control mode has decided that all cricketers? agents will now need to be accredited to the BCCI while an anti-corruption official of the board will be assigned to each IPL team.

In addition an anti-graft official will accompany the Indian cricket team to England for the Champions Trophy which kicks off on 6 June 2013.

MUMBAI: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has extended the deadline for companies to submit bids to buy two new I-League clubs ahead of the next season to 15 May.

Six companies so far have bought the request for proposal (RFP) document. They are GMR Group which already owns an Indian Premier League (IPL) team, UAE-based Indian company Dodsal Group, Jindal Steel, Eagles FC, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services and Trans Stadia.
 
The AIFF was in Dubai last month to hold a meeting for potential investors. IMG Reliance has the marketing and commercial rights for the AIFF.