MUMBAI: India?s cricket board Monday stuck to its earlier position that it cannot make exceptions for Sahara India owned IPL team Pune Warriors India, thereby adding to the tension in the already acrimonious relationship which is heading towards a virtual split.

BCCI president N Srinivasan?s comment after emerging out of the board?s all-powerful Working Committee meeting in Chennai wherein he ruled out any possibility of allowing Pune to field six foreign players instead of the norm of four, a key demand of the franchise, made it apparent that the divorce between the two parties is all but final.

"Issues that had to be decided were placed before the committee and we have conveyed the response from the working committee to Sahara and we hope the response would be favourable," BCCI president N Srinivasan told reporters after the meeting.

While refusing to divulge the details of the issues that were discussed during the meeting, Srinivasan though added that the franchise can find a replacement for its injured player Yuvraj Singh, who is recovering from malignant lung tumour.

"It is a matter which should be discussed between Sahara and BCCI behind closed doors. These are not issues which can be discussed in public," he said.

"One of it was with regards to the number of matches played last year, issues surrounding the quantum of the bank guarantee that Sahara gave and, of course, what they have mentioned in public about the composition of their team in the context of non-availability of some players," Srinivasan added.

The BCCI has responded positively within the framework of its rules and the BCCI has also said that it is not possible to create an exception because observance of the regulations strictly is important to the integrity of the league, he explained.

Srinivasan also said the BCCI had no reservations in Sahara bringing Yuvraj?s replacement and also the company?s plan to offload stakes by roping in a strategic partner.

"I am told that as per the rules Sahara can have replacement for Yuvraj so that is not an issue,? he said, adding that "the BCCI will not have objection to Sahara having a strategic partnership.?

Making it clear that the BCCI was maintaining its stance, Srinivasan put the ball in Sahara?s court by saying, "The position is what it was. We have responded to what Sahara has raised. We will wait to see what the reaction is."

Srinivasan did not reveal BCCI?s stance on franchise reduction, also one of Sahara?s other key demand considering the fact that the number of IPL matches had been reduced from 94 to 74.

However, going by past precedence the BCCI is unlikely to go in for a fee reduction.

Sahara?s demand of doing away with the bank guarantee clause, which is applicable to only new franchises Pune and Kochi whose contract got terminated last year, would have found few takers coming as it is in the wake of BCCI suffering loss due to termination of agreement with Nimbus.

Meanwhile, Sahara has reacted sharply to BCCI?s tough posturing.

In a statement the company said, ?N Srinivasan tried to explain the limitations from the perspective of framework of rules with respect to the issues raised by Sahara. He asked Shri Sundar Raman (IPL CEO) to explain the issues with a perspective of the rules,? Sahara Group said in a statement.

?Shri Subrata Roy Sahara requested the BCCI officials not to elaborate on the rules by saying that any disagreement in sports should be taken in perfect sporting spirit and should be resolved accordingly. He further requested the BCCI president & his team that there is no point in quoting the rule book and debating it word by word. After all, they were BCCI?s own rules and not some constitutional rules of the Govt of India?.

The statement adds that the issue of players was discussed so as to ensure a level playing field. To ensure that, the need for an open Auction to be held in 2013 was also put forward.

?Since there is no same level Indian player left who can match up to the level of Shri Yuvraj Singh, we should be allowed one extra overseas player in the playing XI. We should realise that even this is also not enough to compensate for the loss of somebody of Shri Yuvraj?s caliber.

?Shri Subrata Roy also put across very firmly that if all teams are balanced, the tournament and all the matches will be very competitive and that viewers will enjoy the competition else the tournament will lose its charm. This is the precise reason why Sahara had insisted on an open auction last year after the induction of two new teams?.

The company also termed the bank guarantee clause as ?discriminatory? to the new teams (Pune and terminated Kochi team) since none of the eight original teams had to furnish bank guarantees.

?The fact that none of the earlier 8 teams who entered IPL in 2008, deposit any bank guarantee against franchise fee. Out of the remaining 9 teams in the League, only Sahara is required to deposit the bank guarantee against the franchise fee. Considering that Sahara has never defaulted in last 12 years in any payment that was due to BCCI, this is out and out discriminatory in nature.?

Sahara also reiterated that it will not discuss Team India sponsorship till outstanding issues relating to IPL are not resolved while asserting that it was committed to divert a part of its cricket sponsorship towards social activities.

?Accordingly, if issues related to IPL are solved, then we could also discuss the sponsorship of the Indian cricket Team though it was also put forward that we have to balance our announced Sports and Social Development programs by partly diverting finances committed from cricket into social activities.?

The final word on the most high profile commercial dispute in Indian cricket is yet to come out. Till then, expect both sides to continue their posturing in the coming days.

MUMBAI: In a development that will surely have deep implications, Sahara Group has announced its withdrawal from all cricketing activities including Team Indian sponsorship and IPL franchise Pune Warriors India.

The announcement was made before the commencement of the IPL player?s auction in which the Pune Warriors India did not participate.

Sahara has given several reasons for its decision to opt out of cricket but the main trigger is believed to be the BCCI?s decision to disallow the franchise to use the price of Yuvraj Singh, who has been ruled out of IPL season 5.0, in today?s auction purse.

It also pointed out that under similar circumstances, the BCCI promoted Champions League T20 rules were bended for Mumbai Indians when they were allowed to bring in replacements for their injured players. Sahara feels that this peculiar situation of Singh is silent in the rule book because it probably talks only about players who are temporarily injured.

"Incidentally, once during the Champion?s League tournament, one of the Indian IPL teams had a lot of injured players so they were rightly, out of natural justice, allowed to break the rules and take one extra foreign player. We appreciated this natural justice," Sahara said in statement.

Sahara also noted that its first entry into IPL was thwarted in 2008 when it was disqualified, owing to a small technicality on the whims and fancies of BCCI.

It further pointed out that when the company had bought the Pune franchise for $370 million, it was promised that there would be 94 matches in the IPL which was later reduced to 74 matches. Despite reducing the number of matches, the BCCI did not reduce franchise fee.

"We are still pursuing continuously with the BCCI to refund the extra bid money proportionately. It has been denied on the basis of strict rules," it added.

Sahara was also unhappy with the fact that BCCI did not go for an open auction which did not give the two new franchises - Pune and Kochi - a level playing field.

"In the interest of the tournament, we repeatedly tried our best to pursue the BCCI for open auction of all players so that we achieve level playing field and all teams are equally balanced from the quality players? point of view. Again, as per BCCI?s strict rules it was denied and again, we were deprived of natural justice. 12 of the best players were retained by the existing teams then," the statement averred.

On the sponsorship front, it says that will continue for a few months as the BCCI will take time to find another sponsor.

Sahara?s fresh four-year sponsorship contract for the national team, pegged at $115 million, runs through to December 2013.

"We really feel such one-sided emotional relationship cannot be dragged any further. We are withdrawing from all cricket under BCCI/ However, we don?t want to give any problem to the BCCI and we also feel that the players should not suffer.

"BCCI will definitely take 2-4 months to get a new sponsor and we will continue paying the sponsorship money till then. All other IPL team players, coaches and other such associates will definitely get their due this year, in case they do not get a chance to play," the statement said.

Meanwhile, former IPL chairman Lalit Modi has blamed BCCI president N Srinivasan?s arrogant style of functioning for the current mess in IPL Sahara Group?s pulling out of the league.

"Sahara termination - shows how unhappy the major sponsor and franchise owner is with the way BCCI deals with its partners. This is really a sad day. Sahara has been sports biggest supporter and pillar," Modi wrote on his twitter page.

"It?s a black day for Indian Cricket. All due to One ego maniac. Wonder how we allow that to continue. It will ruin cricket completely," read another tweet.

"All I can say is that whenever sports was in trouble - we could always count on Sahara being there. They were one solid company one could always bank on coming thru," he added.

"When another Team owner is a state association president, BCCI president and just showed that he controls ICC thru his clout. And does things only in favour of himself. This was bound to happen."

Laying the blame of shunning BCCI sponsors and partners at Srinivasan?s door, Modi said the current president had no moral authority to continue.

"BCCI President needs to go. He has no concept of taking people along. The Fans, Players, Sponsors, Franchisee owners, are the people who make us what we are. And they need to be listened too. Not shunned away," he added.

"BCCI has made all posts redundant in BCCI and want to do the same in ICC. They want only one door to be opened for cricket. That door has a Plate on it - N Srinivasan. Owner CSK, president TNCA, President BCCI, controller ICC," he added.

MUMBAI: The new Stadium in Pune, subject to final completion, will make its debut as an IPL venue, by staging all eight ?home? games of the Pune Warriors India.

Dharamsala, Cuttack and Izanagi will host two games each.

As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the league will start from 4 April 2012 with nine teams and 76 matches. The league will commence with Chennai Super Kings, the defending champions, taking on the Mumbai Indians, the Champions League T20 winners, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The league stage, which comprises 72 matches, with each team playing the other eight in a home-and-away format, will go on till 20 May 2012.

The venue of the two finalist teams from 2011 edition will host the Play offs. Bengaluru will host Qualifier 1 (1 vs 2) and the Eliminator (3 vs 4) on 22 and 23 May respectively. Qualifier 2 and the Final will be played in Chennai on 25 May and 27 May respectively.