Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya says he has not given up on the idea of investigating the poor marketing of the World Cup by Nimbus, the Global Cricket Corporation's agent in India.
Though International Cricket Council chief Ehsaan Mani convinced him against the move, Dalmiya told rediff.com the BCCI will still pursue the option of investigating the company's marketing strategy. He, however, refused to divulge details on the matter.
At the BCCI working committee meeting in June, Dalmiya said he allocated Rs five million (US$107,000) for the investigation. He further threatened to take the GCC to court if the investigation proved that the World Cup was indeed poorly marketed.
In an obvious bid to punish the sponsors whose damage claims are likely to deprive the BCCI of its World Cup profits, Dalmiya said it is important to tread cautiously in dealings with these companies after the ICC contract controversy, which saw the sponsors claim damages from the Global Cricket Corporation.
The ICC has withheld India's guarantee money of $6.5 million.
"The Board has to be cautious before approaching the companies that failed to support us before and after the World Cup in South Africa, because we personally feel that the Indian players' demands were not wrong," Dalmiya said during the lunch break of the Board's marketing committee meeting in Mumbai.
"The three-year contract with Pepsi has just ended and we discussed a few companies, though I cannot name the parties as the final decision for the coming years would be taken during the Finance Committee meeting next month. Pepsi will have to decide soon. They can't say something to us and then go ahead and do something different," Dalmiya warned.
Dalmiya said the issue of moving the BCCI office to a new headquarters will be discussed at the Finance Committee meeting. He informed that since January 2000, when the BCCI advertised for a new office, 70-80 applications were accepted and vetted.
Abhay Bhatavdekar, the owner of a property in Vile Parle, a suburb of Mumbai, told rediff.com that almost every Board official visited the three-storied 15,000 sq ft property but failed to finalise or get back to him for the next four years.
Dalmiya also spoke about having a cricket museum.
On the coaching front, the BCCI chief rubbished the concept of multiple coaches, calling it a fashion and said that the issue was discussed before the World Cup.
"If the players and coach feel the need to have a bowling coach, we will certainly consider it. Right now, there is nothing happening," he clarified.
He said the Board is also considering the possibility of increasing match fees of both international and domestic cricketers.
"We have discussed about the possibility of increasing match fees for first class cricketers by 15 per cent and the senior cricketers by 20 per cent, but again everything would be finalised during the Finance Committee meeting in Kolkata," Dalmiya said.
