Image courtesy of: Rediff

The Pune Warriors franchise is highly likely to be terminated

The Pune Warriors are on the verge of never playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) again after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gave them a 30-day termination notice.

The Sahara Adventure Sports Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of the Sahara India Parivar, defaulted on the payments for next year’s edition of the star-studded Twenty20 tournament.

The decision to give the Warriors a 30-day termination notice was taken during the BCCI’s working committee meeting, which was held in Chennai on Saturday.

The Sahara group announced their decision to pull out of the IPL on May 21, immediately after their bank guarantee had been encashed by the BCCI.

The Pune Warriors have been demanding that an arbitration process take place over the franchise fees since the BCCI did not fulfill its promise on the certain number of matches the team would play during the IPL.

However, the arbitration process is still yet to get underway since the BCCI and Sahara have clashing views on which judges should handle the case.

The Pune Warriors were bought by Sahara for USD 370 million (approx Rs 1702 crore) in 2010, making them the most expensive franchise in the tournament.

All the contracts of the players on the Pune Warriors roster are likely to be terminated since a fresh auction is almost guaranteed to be held.

Sahara, who are also the main sponsors of the Indian national team, have hinted that they will not renew their sponsorship contract with the BCCI when it expires at the end of the year.