Won't return to IPL even if team given for free, says Subrata Roy

Sahara chairman Subrata Roy on Friday today squarely blamed BCCI chief for his firm exiting the Indian Premier League and said he wouldn’t consider returning to the T20 League until Srinivasan quit.

Blaming the BCCI for not keeping their commitments, Roy told CNN-IBN, “With the money we paid we were promised 94 matches, but were given only 64. Srinivasan has always been unavailable and does not have the courtesy to reply back to my calls or letters.”

Dismissing speculation that Sahara withdrew their team because of monetary constraints, he said, “I won’t even take a franchise even if they give it to me for free. I don’t want to go through the humiliation.”

Roy said he could enter into an agreement with the BCCI, only if it was helmed by a team that is committed.

“All past BCCI presidents were good. Even Pawar’s guardianship was good,” he said.

The Sahara group chief said that he is also planning to pull out of the deal to sponsor the Indian cricket team.

“I can do anything for cricketers, but I will not do it through the BCCI,” he said.

On the IPL spot fixing scandal he said,“India is emotionally involved in cricket and everything should be done to kill this thing.”

The Sahara Group had earlier accused the BCCI of “betrayal of trust” while rejecting the claims of the Board that they were to be blamed for the controversy surrounding the franchise fee, leading to Pune Warriors pulling out of the Twenty20 tournament.

A day after Sahara Group pulled out its team Pune Warriors from IPL, in protest against the BCCI’s decision to encash its bank guarantee following a prolonged financial dispute, the BCCI  claimed it had always wanted the impasse to end.