Soon after the Sahara India dissociated itself from Indian cricket, the BCCI justified its decision to not allow Pune Warriors to have a higher purse in the auction owing to Yuvraj Singh’s unavailability.
“They had requested some flexibility in the rules but in IPL’s opinion that was not possible. Their demand to sit with a higher purse in the auction would not have been fair to the other franchisees. They were not for it either,” said Sunder Raman, IPL CEO.
IPL commissioner Rajeev Shukla seconded the view. “The rules are clear, any injured player can be replaced. This has to be done out of the auction. Yuvraj’s price was I think 1.8 million and they can use that (outside the auction),” Shukla said. He has said that the development was “unfortunate but the IPL will continue”.
“The show must go on. We have received nothing in writing (from Sahara), so it’s difficult to say more,” Shukla said. It was a morning full of events at the ITC Gardenia hotel in Bangalore where the IPL auction was supposed to start at 11am.
At 9.45 am, Sushanto Roy, Managing Director, Sahara Adventure Sports Limited; Abhijit Sarkar, Head-Corporate Communications, Sahara India Parivar; and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly made a surprise exit from the hotel in a white Mercedes. Ten minutes later, a press handout was distributed intimating the media about Sahara severing all ties with Indian cricket.
Comments