Sahara Vs BCCI – End of an 11 year old relationship

The Sahara Group, Indian National Cricket team’s sponsor for the last 11 years has decided upon parting ways with the BCCI. As per the article published in The Hindu,just hours before the IPL auctions, Sahara group gave a statement about its decision of severing all ties with the premier Cricket Governing body.

In the next few paragraphs I will try to ascertain the reasons and implications of this decision and some of the positive changes that the Sports fraternity might observe in the next few years.

Reasons

As per the statement given by Sahara Group, the reasons can be enumerated as follows :

1) The relations between Sahara and BCCI have soured over the years. In 2008, BCCI had disqualified Sahara in IPL auctions which according to Sahara was without any concrete reasons.

2) The price that Sahara had bid for was based upon the assumption that there would be 94 matches in the IPL. However, there were only 74 matches. On being asked for a refund of the remaining amount BCCI denied it on the grounds of strict rules and regulations.

3) Sahara seemingly was not too happy with the fact that IPL had a provision of retention of players. As they entered the IPL auctions last year, they said 12 of the best players were already retained. The ex-sponsor claims that everybody should have a level playing field which the rules clearly denied.

4) Due to the unavailability of Yuvraj Singh for this season, Sahara had requested to add Yuvraj’s price to the auction purse while it also agreed upon paying Yuvraj Singh. The BCCI has rejected this upright.

BCCI-  Dictating terms 

The BCCI, with its money power, has tried to dictate terms with the ICC which, when seen in retrospect,cannot be ruled out. The recent claims made by Sahara has brought this aspect to the fore.

1) Fading performance – Recetly, BCCI has been under the scanner for the team’s laclustre overseas performance. It has been ascribed to the BCCI’s lazy and neglecting nature towards the development of the domestic cricket.

2) Money minded – There can be no denying the fact that over the years, BCCI has changed from a governing body into a money minded institution which has devoted all of its energies towards glamourising the game rather than nurturing young cricketers. IPL serves as a money making machine for the BCCI and one cannot help but notice the corporate culture in the auctions.

3) Changing dynamics – Our team’s latest failure can somehow be attributed to the changing cricket dynamics in the country. The youngsters are more keen on earning quick money and fame rather than working hard in the longer formats of the game. The short but intense format has also caused injuries woes to some of the brightest perfomers and has lead to utter humiliation abroad.

4) Pitches – If winning matches irrespective of pitch conditions is on our agenda,I feel that this attitude should be replicated somewhere in the pitches made available during the domestic season. The pitches should be designed to replicate versatile conditions so as to equip our youngsters well in foreign conditions. How BCCI is unperturbed with all these considerations are quite clear with the latest Ranji statistics available here.

Good News

Amidst all these gloomy news,Sahara has decided to pour in 1000 crore in a welfare foundation.It aims to develop 20 rural/semi urban sports development centers with diversified sports like Hockey,Soccer,Badminton,volleyball etc. It has also made plans to develop an International class sports academy which will serve the best of the talents coming from the rural and semi urban centers.

If Sahara can keep with its promise, it might come as a sigh of relief for those sport fraternities which are gasping for breath in their quest for survival. It might also come as a reminder for the government which has rightly been accused for its lopsided approach towards the non-cricket sports.