The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Sahara chose to communicate through the media even though there seems to be very little development on the surface. Two days after Sahara announced that they will pull out from the Indian Premier League (IPL) and stop being sponsors of the Indian cricket team, the BCCI adopted a reconciliatory approach. It said it was willing to settle the issue through dialogue.
"We are ready to meet and sort out the issue. We have no problems with that. We do appreciate what Sahara has done. They might have felt aggrieved and did not get what they wanted from the IPL. We had good a relationship with them and so we should sort out the issues," BCCI president N Srinivasan said. Stating that he was surprised by Sahara's sudden decision, Srinivasan said, "Personally, I am open to dialogue and the BCCI is open to dialogue. We recognise there were grievances on their part but there was no reason to break suddenly."
Srinivasan refused to get into the specifics of the problems with Sahara. "It has been an up and down relationship but when we meet, I hope most of the issues will be resolved. All issues will be discussed but it will be premature to speak about the issues now," the BCCI chief said.
On Sahara's demand to increase their purse by $1.8 million, the Chennai Super Kings owner said, "The decisions related to IPL are taken by the governing council. The auction is over. We can't pre-judge what the issues the BCCI and Sahara will discuss. There should be an element of secrecy in that."
Meanwhile, it is understood that neither side has touched base. Sahara continues to feel aggrieved that the BCCI did not contact them before the auction started.
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