Tendulkar, Ganguly in line for new marketing deal

New Delhi, June 9: The web war is set to engulf two of India's most marketable names -- Sachin Tendulkar and the current Indian cricket ca...

New Delhi, June 9: The web war is set to engulf two of India’s most marketable names — Sachin Tendulkar and the current Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly. The two players, currently under contract to Mark Mascerenhas’ WorldTel and his website, Totalcricket.com are said to be shifting to clickcricket.com, a website in which former India vice-captain Ajay Jadeja has a stake.

The buzz is that both Ganguly and Tendulkar are nearing the end of their current contracts. When they first signed up, internet rights were not much of an issue. But with a rash of new websites coming up, there is now huge interest in star players and their official home pages. With a major web war out there in cyberspace, the two superstars feel they can negotiate a better deal.

Sources close to the Indian skipper say Ganguly has not been too happy with the way WorldTel and Mark Mascerenhas’ name has been figuring in recent controversies. They say that while Ganguly does not believe in the mudslinging that has been going on, he wishes to steer clear of all that, and his own teammate Jadeja seems to have offered him an alternative.

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WorldTel also has the rights to negotiate endorsement deals for the two players, but as yet it is not clear whether clickcricket.com is bidding for that too.

It is however well known that Jadeja, a savvy business mind, and who has even planned a Sports Cafe, wants to move into the area of celebrity and event management too. As part of more than a few companies, in which he is either a partner or a director, Jadeja has shown solid business sense. In fact one of his companies had negotiated the contract with various staging centres for runners on the boundaries.

Jadeja, who was not able to make a permanent place for himself in the Indian Test side, could well be following in the footsteps of another talented all-rounder, Ravi Shastri, who retired ahead of his time. Shastri has since become a successful commentator and is also said to be a consultant to many companies and has been an integral part of the star-studded WorldTel commentary team.

The Chief marketing officer of Clickcricket.com, Navneet Sharma, who in his previous job with International Management Group had worked out contracts with many players, refused to confirm or deny on Ganguly and Tendulkar. "I am not in a position to say anything," he said. But he did confirm that his company had signed up with players like Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sri Lankans Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan and Hindi commentator Chetan Sharma. "There are a few other names in the pipeline," was how far he would commit.

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Sources close to the Indian skipper say that Ganguly is not happy with the financial deal pertaining to internet rights. Also, the fact that he was writing a column for a Calcutta-based syndicate did not go down well with WorldTel.