‘Cricket is still very popular and IPL is one of the top tournaments in the world’
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur hinted that at least three companies, which were interested in bagging the Indian Premier League (IPL) title sponsorship rights apart from eventual winners Vivo, are still keen on being associated with the cash-rich league.
While Thakur did not elaborate whether it was about buying an IPL franchise for two years in place of the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.
"We had four interested parties for IPL title sponsorship and other three (apart from Vivo) are still interested in coming on board in other ways," Thakur dropped broad hints about the manner of possible association.
Thakur also said that all the controversies associated with IPL has not been able to dent the tournament's popularity.
"Cricket is still very popular and IPL is one of the top tournaments in the world," the secretary said.
He also said that the board is awaiting recommendations from the Lodha Committee.
"We are awaiting Lodha Committee recommendations on reforms in BCCI. We have so far implemented all recommendations in toto," he said.
On a different note, he was asked about the drainage system of CAB that has been problematic leading to postponement of international as well as domestic matches.
"We will ask CAB to improve the drainage at Eden Gardens before World T20 championship. I am confident we are going recover in coming months and do well before World T20 tournament."
Thakur termed the ODI series as an ‘interesting one’ even though he admitted that Indian team didn't play well on Sunday.
"Yes, we lost the ODI and T20 series. Yesterday, the Mumbai game was like a final. Unfortunately, we didn't do well though the ODI series was very interesting," Thakur said.
