BCB terminates contract with Sahara

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced that it has ended its contract with Aamby Valley, an affiliate of Sahara India Parivar, 15 months before it was scheduled to end. The board is now looking for a new team sponsor for the home series against Pakistan this month, ESPNcricinfo revealed.

The BCB had sold team sponsorship rights to Aamby Valley in June 2012, in a $14 million deal for four years, the biggest in Bangladesh cricket. The contract was supposed to end in June 2016, but a BCB advertisement in a national daily on March 30 marked the end of the alliance.

According to ESPNcricinfo, BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed that BCB had ended the contract with Sahara, however did not disclose the financial implications of the termination.

"We have decided not to continue our contract with Sahara. That's why we have given an advertisement for a new team sponsor for the Pakistan series. We cannot speak about the deal [with Sahara] at this moment."

Sahara is facing financial difficulties over the past year, also have been a matter of public record, with India's Supreme Court ordering the group head to remain in custody over pending trial.

Sahara had outbid Grameenphone in 2012, which had sponsored the Bangladesh team for eight years. It bid approximately $9.4 million, substantially more than the $ 3.4 million of Grameenphone and $4 million from another bidder. Sahara had also won branding rights for the national team and the national cricket academy, and title sponsorship and in-stadia sponsorship for 2012-13.

BCB has asked the new bidders to include an irrevocable bank guarantee of 50% of the total offered value, which will be considered as a security deposit. The company that wins the rights has to pay the full quoted amount before the signing of the agreement. It has to be completed by April 12.