The Indian Premier League chairman Rajeev Shukla on Saturday termed Sahara’s ‘severance of ties’ with the BCCI and IPL as unfortunate. Mr. Shukla however said that the ‘show will go on’ and that the IPL will not be affected.
In a press conference during the course of the player auction here on Saturday, Mr. Shukla said: “It’s unfortunate but the IPL will continue. The show must go on. But we have received nothing in writing (from Sahara), so it’s difficult to say more. They have circulated a press release and I have seen that but without them giving us anything in writing officially, we cannot react,” Mr. Shukla said.
IPL CEO Sundar Raman said that the Sahara Pune Warriors wanted some amendments in the rules with regard to the auction purse but as it was unfair to the other team owners, the request was over-ruled. “Their demand to sit with a higher purse in the auction would not have been fair on the other franchisees. They were not for it either,” Mr. Raman said.
Reacting to Sahara’s demand that the money spent on Yuvraj Singh (the injured Pune Warriors’ skipper), should be part of the team’s auction purse, Mr. Shukla said: “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).”
