Bharti Airtel, Sahara in race for team sponsorship

The Board of Control for Cricket in India will choose between Bharti Airtel and Sahara Group on Monday as the new team sponsor, as both are the only firms left in the fray at the end of the deadline for submitting the bids for rights along with the requisite security deposit.

From six firms who purchased the form from the BCCI after it published a tender notice calling for bids for the Indian men's team, women's team, India A squad and the under-19 squad, only these two firms sent the security deposit before Saturday's deadline, according to BCCI sources.

"Six took the forms but only Bharti Airtel and Sahara have sent the security deposit (Rs 50 crore). They will submit the financial bids tomorrow to the BCCI marketing committee that is meeting tomorrow," the sources said on Sunday.

BCCI president Shashank Manohar is to chair the marketing committee meeting at the Board's headquarters in Mumbai at 1100 IST.

The base price is Rs 2.5 crore for each Test, ODI and T20 International, the sources added.

Sahara, are, incidentally the existing sponsors, who spent Rs 400 crore over a four-year period on team sponsorship.

They came to the BCCI's rescue when no bids were received for the team sponsorship six months ago and continued the sponsorship, which ends on June 30.