No clarity on Sahara-bcci meeting

NEW DELHI: With the cricket board looking to mollify their estranged partners Sahara, there was no clarity on when the two would meet to sort out their major differences.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vicepresident, Rajeev Shukla, who also heads the Indian Premier League, denied there was any meeting planned on Thursday between the board president N Srinivasan and Sahara Group chairman Subrata Roy.

“I have seen some media reports of a meeting on Thursday but I can tell you no such meeting is planned as of now,” Shukla told HT.

Angered by the cricket board and the IPL bosses not helping to build a strong Pune Warriors team, Sahara abruptly pulled out of the players’ auction on Saturday, barely an hour before it began.

It not only announced it was pulling out as sponsors of Pune Warriors but also made it clear it would no longer sponsor the India team, an association that goes back to 2001.

Srinivasan has subsequently made conciliatory comments but the Sahara chief has ndicated that even if he agreed to continue sponsoring the IPL team for the time being to make sure the players are not left in the lurch, there was little chance of reviewing the decision to part ways with the India team.

Sahara has already said it is investing R1000 crore in various welfare schemes.