Pune Warriors India have pulled out of Indian Premier League, Sahara India said in an official press release. They slammed the BCCI and IPL committee for giving them a cold shoulder on the issues regarding the bid of 1700 crores to earn the franchisee of IPL team.
“We could not penetrate BCCI's deaf ears and we were looking to make an exit from this edition of Pepsi-IPL before it even started but still we continued this year keeping in mind the sportsmanship and interest of the players as well as fans,” said the release.
As per the recent reports in Times of India, “BCCI had not shown sportsmanship from the day one. It started off when we made a bid of 1700 crores for IPL franchise in 2010 which was on the basis of calculation of 94 matches. But we got just 64 matches only and were tricked by BCCI who put the number of matches as 94 in the Media,” said the statement.
It added, “Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers immediately protested and also requested BCCI to reduce the bid price but BCCI didn’t entertain us and it was quite clear that they were just interested in money rather than looking after the concerns of franchisees.”
According to the recent reports in Indian Express, the statement said, “We always kept in mind the interest of Cricket in India and that’s why we didn’t pull out. This decision would have put BCCI under serious pressure but the way BCCI reacted to our safeguard was not just a clear indication of un-sportsmanship but also what they feel about the sponsors who are supporting the Indian Cricket Team for past 13 years. Not even a single rupee is outstanding towards the sponsorship and BCCI is even secured by a bank guarantee against the sponsorship.
According to the Sahara statement, “During ICC Champions Trophy 2002, we paid the full amount of sponsorship when there were not a label on the player's Jersey. There is hardly any doubt that BCCI has hardly to contribute to the wellness of Cricket or any other sport.”
According to reports the official release of the Pune Warriors said, “BCCI representative did a shameful act when he walked into the Bank on 20th May, the very next day when we played our last match of this season, and revoked the Bank guarantee. He was there at 8 in the evening and even threatened the bank that if money is not paid today to BCCI, tomorrow they shall enter court to black list Bank.”
Sahara also raised question on the character of BCCI as he said, “One should ask BCCI why they did not approach bank for revocation of our bank guarantee from 2nd May to 19th May. That's why these were so, so harsh on 20th May without talking to us and even then they had every right to invoke Bank Guarantee.”