Sahara, owner of Pune Warriors, withdrawing from Indian cricket

THE Indian Premier League careers of Australian cricketers Mitchell Marsh, Callum Ferguson and Tim Paine are in limbo after the main backers of Indian cricket, Sahara, on the weekend relinquished their ownership of IPL team, the Pune Warriors

Sahara Group Chairman Subrata Roy.

All three are on the team's playing roster for the fifth season of the highly lucrative IPL, which is scheduled to run from April 4 to May 27, but whether the Warriors will remain part of the competition is problematic after Sahara severed ties with Indian cricket's ruling body, the BCCI, only hours before the IPL auction in Bangalore on Saturday.

Subrata Roy, the chairman of Sahara India Parivar, indicated his company might be prepared to reconsider its decision but any about-turn would appear to hinge on whether the BCCI will reverse its ruling preventing Pune from adding the amount of Yuvraj Singh's contract to the team's auction purse.

The flamboyant Indian batsman is currently in the US undergoing chemotherapy for a tumour between his lung and heart. It was recently diagnosed as malignant after initial tests last October indicated it was benign.

Sahara, which paid $344 million for the Pune franchise, had hoped for a dispensation given the grave state of Yuvraj's health but that request, like many others it had put to the BCCI in regard to the IPL, was rejected. Finally, in the early hours of Saturday, Roy notified BCCI president N. Srinivasan, who is the owner of the rival Chennai Super Kings IPL team, that Sahara was pulling out of Indian cricket.

The company has asked the BCCI to search for a potential new sponsor for the Warriors but it remains unclear what will happen to the team and its players if no new owner can be found.

"It does not depend on me alone," Roy was quoted on Crininfo. "It also depends on the BCCI. We are there to support them (the players). I am really worried about one thing: that my players should get to play. Money I'll take care of. I am not worried about money."

The same might not necessarily be said for Pune's players. Marsh, in Brisbane yesterday to prepare for Western Australia's Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland at the Gabba starting today, was not made available to the media, but WA captain Marcus North said he had spoken to the young all-rounder about the IPL imbroglio.

"It's obviously disappointing for Mitch," said North. "It's an opportunity he's going to miss to play on the big stage but he's starting to get his opportunities for Australia and I'm sure we'll see him make an impact in this one-day series after game three (when Marsh returns to the Australian one-day squad).

"He's disappointed not to be playing in the IPL but it's out of his control and he just has to wait and see what transpires in the next week or so."

At least the three Australians on the Pune Warriors' books technically still remain in the IPL. Not so a host of other top-drawer Australian cricketers who were passed over in the auction, including Test pace bowling spearhead Peter Siddle, spinner Xavier Doherty and discarded Test batsmen Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith.

There were some notable Australian winners, however, including pace bowling all-rounder Mitchell Johnson, who was snapped up by the Mumbai Indians for his reserve price of $300,000, and veteran spinner Brad Hogg, 41 today, who was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for $168,000. The Royals also splashed $444,000 on Victorian batsman Brad Hodge.

Source:http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/sahara-owner-of-pune-warriors-withdrawing-from-indian-cricket/story-e6frg7rx-1226263189552