The much-awaited meeting between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Sahara is likely to take place on February 12. The venue is expected to be Mumbai, although there are indications that it could be shifted to Chennai as a working committee meeting is scheduled to be held there the next day. But till late on Thursday evening, there was no official confirmation about the venue. Nor the date.
The meeting, however, is expected to be a stormy one. IPL watchers say Sahara will go to the table with a long list of grievances, the main one being the demand for a discount on the franchise fee. They have often pointed out that their calculation was based on 94 matches, which was promised to them by the BCCI/IPL. Last year, they did oblige to the BCCI diktat but they made the “full” payment under protest.
Subroto Roy said on record that the loss due to reduction in matches was over 20 per cent. They have also pointed out the “injustice” done to them in the inaugural team auction back in 2007. It is difficult to predict what could be their other list of demands, but it is more or less certain that the two parties will be involved in hard bargaining.
Sahara has made it clear that they are interested in retaining the side, but a lot will eventually depend on how far the BCCI will go in accommodating their requests.
The BCCI could find it difficult to reject Sahara’s plea but the ball will still be in its court.
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