Sahara to sponsor Indian team

MUMBAI, JUNE 2. The Indian cricket team will have a single corporate sponsor in Sahara India. Apart from signing up as the team sponsor for all official Tests and one-day internationals for three years, the Lucknow-based company has also taken up the sponsorship of the non-leading arm on the clothing of every player.

``Sahara India Pariwar is proud to sponsor the Indian cricket team--the pride of the nation,'' announced Mr. Pallav Agarwal, Deputy Director Worker, Sahara India Pariwar, at a press briefing. ``Sahara India Pariwar is an Indian company, with a proud history making their sponsorship of the Indian team a perfect fit,'' said Mr.Ravi Krishnan, Joint Managing Director, International Management Group-Trans World International (IMG- TWI).

``Sahara has had a successful association with cricket in India in the past, we look forward to this new and mutually beneficial relationship,'' said Mr. A.C. Muthiah, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, present at the official launch, alongwith secretary Mr.Jayawant Lele. The event was organised by Percept D'Mark advertising agency on the sponsor's behalf.

Neither sponsor Sahara India, marketing agency IMG-TWI nor the BCCI were willing to reveal the sponsorship figures, preferring to stress on the confidentiality clause in their agreement. However, that did not stop them from proclaiming their belief that the deal is the largest of its kind worldwide, eclipsing the deal between Vodafone and the English Cricket Board or the new Ansett-Australian Cricket Board arrangement.

This aversion for disclosing the official figures in a highly- publicised professional arrangement is hardly surprising, viewed against the backdrop of a legal notice served by Gayatri Arts, a Mumbai-based company, alleging that the BCCI had gone back on its decision to award the Indian team clothing sponsorship rights for Rs 90 crores spread over three years. The Mumbai High Court rejected the writ petition, but the controversy atleast threw light on the Board's valuation of the Indian cricket team.

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Section  : Sport
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