Dhonis side gets Sahara,rest left in the cold again

When the BCCI marketing committee opened the sale of sponsorship rights for four of its teams the entire spotlight was on what figure MS Dhonis side would fetch.

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When the BCCI marketing committee opened the sale of sponsorship rights for four of its teams the Indian mens and womens teams,India A and the India U-19 team the entire spotlight was on what figure MS Dhonis side would fetch. For the BCCI,the good news is that they will now earn Rs 84 lakh more than the base price of Rs 2.5 crore per match for the Indian mens team.

In all,the BCCI will get Rs 3.34 crore per match from the Sahara India Financial Corporation,who retained their embossing rights on the blue jersey. BCCI received two bids from Sahara Group and Bharti Airtel,who,it is learnt,quoted Rs 2.9 crore per match.

However,there wasnt a single bid received for the India women,India A and the India U-19 teams. Now,in order to find sponsors for its other teams,the BCCIs marketing committee is planning to sell the sponsorship rights of these three teams as a single package.

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You cant expect these teams to be sold; after all how many matches do you see them playing on television? Sponsors want something in return. There were no sponsors for these three teams,we will see if we can sell it to Sahara or another group for a fixed amount, a top board official said. Interestingly,these three teams were without any sponsors earlier too.

BCCI chairman of finance committee Rajiv Shukla explained that the process was completely transparent though he didnt wish to comment on why other teams didnt receive any bids. The BCCI marketing committee followed a transparent process in inviting the tenders. The tenders were opened today and Saharas bid was much higher than Airtels. The tender for the ground rights and the production rights will be issued later, Shukla said.

Saharas original contract expired last year but with no bidders for Team India six months ago,the BCCI had renewed their contract for six more months. Sahara had paid Rs 1.91 crore per Test,Rs 2.08 crore per ODI and Rs 1.56 crore for a T20 international.

Modi sends one notice,is slapped with another

Mumbai: Suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi on Monday served a defamation notice on ECB chairman Giles Clarke,even as the BCCI served a third notice on him over granting of theatrical rights in November last year for IPL III.

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Clarke had accused Modi of hatching a plan to float a T20 league along the likes of IPL,an attempt,widely considered at changing the structure of world cricket. Meanwhile,BCCI sources said a third notice has been served on Modi over theatrical rights in IPL. ENS