Standoff ends,Warriors retreat

Sahara to remain Team India sponsor,stay in IPL after BCCI agrees conditionally

Sahara is back in the IPL pack,and will be a part of Season 5 after the BCCI conditionally agreed to a majority of their demands at the end of a two-day long negotiation with franchise owner Subrata Roy. While the board has directed Sahara to seek consensus among all other franchises on several issues,the Pune Warrior8217;s appeal for an open auction next year wasn8217;t considered as of now.

The denouement to this fracas which erupted after Sahara8217;s sulking over some key issues in the IPL also effectively assuaged their grievances which had seen them pull out of the Indian sponsorship. They will remain the Indian team sponsors after the patch-up.

The two-day meeting saw former BCCI chief Shashank Manohar and Kolkata franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan intervening along with treasurer Ajay Shirke and IPL CEO Sundar Raman to end the Sahara impasse.

The hectic parleys resulted in most issues being resolved but the joint statement issued by BCCI and Sahara had no mention of the Pune franchise8217;s contentious demand for an open auction in 2013. Though,in his comment on the issue Sahara chief Roy stressed that player retention could prove to be a stumbling block for IPL8217;s competitive environment.

Viewers should enjoy each and every match preferably with a thrilling finish in the last over. That is only possible when all the teams are well balanced. So there should be perfect level playing field. Due to the policy of retention,a disparity in the player ability and corresponding payment structure is created. I genuinely appreciate BCCI,seeing their positive response and attitude,they have said that they would take up the issue seriously in the near future, Roy said.

Meanwhile,three of Sahara8217;s demands will now be addressed by the eight other IPL teams. Sahara has been keen to host a play-off game that was scheduled to be played in Bangalore. The BCCI has in principle agreed to transfer the game to Pune subject to the consent of Royal Challengers Bangalore.

In a working committee meet held in Chennai,the BCCI members had rejected the idea of allowing five foreign players in the playing XI in consideration of the exceptional circumstances and the non-availability of Yuvraj Singh. The Pune Warriors had offered to obtain the consent of all the franchises for the submission to the BCCI.

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Sahara had shown interest in signing overseas players who were not included in the Auction Register,subject to the relevant player regulations. The BCCI has agreed to it but it will be subject to the views of all other franchises as well.

The meeting also saw BCCI and Sahara agreeing to start arbitration proceedings in the reduction of franchise fee issue. Sahara had requested to a 27 cut in their franchise fees as they were earlier promised 94 games instead of the present 74. Roy had said that they had requested an arbitrator but they hadn8217;t got any positive response.

Purse re-activated

The BCCI working committee had earlier agreed with Sahara seeking a strategic partner in the Pune Warriors India franchise and the Indian board has now agreed to an re-activation of the Auction Purse so that it can take a number of players,subject to the squad composition regulations which Indian board didn8217;t object to. The request to furnish the bank guarantee against the franchisee fee in two installments will be considered by the BCCI at the next available opportunity.

Give amp; Take

Agreed

Trading window extended to February 29

Auction purse re-activated

Strategic partner allowed

Disagreed

No open auction next year

On Back Burner

Can have five foreign players in the XI if other franchises agree

Arbitrator appointed to address demand to slash franchise fee

Playoffs in the new Pune stadium,if RCB agree