Board Of Control For Cricket In India, Sahara At Odds Over Pune Warriors India's IPL Status

The Board of Control for Cricket in India and Indian conglomerate Sahara "appear to be headed for a fresh round of confrontations," according to Vijay Tagore of the MUMBAI MIRROR. This time "the ramifications could be serious" for both parties. With planning for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League started, the BCCI is "seeking the status of the Pune Warriors India team vis-àvis the IPL and Sahara is in no mood to make a climbdown from its sworn position of a demand for arbitration." This "effectively means a protracted stalemate and court battle which could lead to termination of the PWI team for Sahara and heavy financial losses for the BCCI." The BCCI has "dashed off a letter to Sahara" asking them to pay a Rs 174 crore ($28M) bank guarantee to "stay in the IPL but the costliest franchise has steadfastly refused to toe the line saying the only way out is arbitration" (MUMBAI MIRROR, 10/24).