Sahara back as cricket Team India sponsor

Sahara India was Thursday back as cricket Team India sponsor and the owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Pune Warriors after sorting out most of its issues with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Sahara had decided to sever all its ties with the BCCI earlier this month citing denial of “natural justice”. The last straw in the splitting of relations was BCCI’s refusal to allow ailing cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s price to be added to Pune Warriors’ auction purse after the southpaw was ruled out of the tournament with a lung tumour.

After 12 days of intense negotiations, the two parties issued a joint statement here signed by BCCI president N. Srinivasan and Sahara India managing director Subrata Roy.

“Sahara confirms that it will continue sponsorship of the Indian team. Sahara may want to exercise its right to assign the sponsorship as per the agreement,” the statement said.

The BCCI agreed to extend the trading window, which was due to close Friday, until Feb 29 to give Pune Warriors India the opportunity to have successful negotiations with other franchisees as it looks to strengthen its squad.

The BCCI also said that it has re-activated the $2 million auction purse of Pune Warriors so that it can take a number of players, subject to the squad composition regulations.