Air Sahara bags cricket sponsorship for Rs 313cr

Reliance Info, AirTel, Idea, IOC beaten for 4-year deal.

Sahara India Parivar will continue to sponsor the Indian cricket team. The group's airline venture, Air Sahara, today bagged a four-year sponsorship deal from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for Rs 313 crore, pipping rivals Reliance Infocomm, AirTel, Idea and state-owned Indian Oil Corporation to the post.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the BCCI's marketing committee here. The BCCI board will award the contract tomorrow. During the next four years, the Indian team is scheduled to play 44 Test matches and 110 One-Day Internationals.

This is almost four times of the Rs 78.10 crore that Sahara had paid in 2001 to sponsor the Indian cricket team for four years.

BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi said Sahara could be paying more as 50 more days of cricket were likely to be added to the existing cricketing calendar. "Sahara is aware of this and accordingly has agreed to increase sponsorship money," he said.

Sahara will sponsor all of India's matches at home and abroad with the exception of ICC-backed tournaments like the World Cup and the Champions Trophy. Modi said BCCI expected the telecast rights deals, too, to fetch a high amount. "We do not see any problem in sharing matches with Doordarshan."

According to Modi, the board is expected to come out with broadcast rights tenders in the next 15 days.