Indian cricket team becomes white elephant for BCCI

NEW DELHI: The main sponsor of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sahara India said that no corporate was ready to shell out more than 50-60 percent of the current value of the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team.

Sahara, which has said it was pulling out of the team sponsorship over the way it has been treated by the BCCI, said that its chairman Subrata Roy sounded other corporates to see if anyone could fully or partially sponsor Team India.

To his surprise, none was willing to pay more than half of what Sahara was paying now, Sahara said in a statement.

"In the last 3-4 days, Subrata Roy and his team discussed the option of assigning full or partial sponsorship with some corporates. This was done because Sahara has committed to continue to support the Team Sponsorship for 2-4 months till a new sponsor is on board.

"We were very surprised to note that though they were interested in the opportunity, yet (they) were not willing to pay more than 50-60 percent of the current value," Sahara said.