BCCI sells India-West Indies T20 rights without following Supreme Court mandated tender procedure: Report

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) might have just worked in contradiction to the recommendations made by the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha committee.

According to a report in the Times of India, the Indian cricket board has sold the ground rights for the two Twenty20 Internationals between India and the West Indies, to be played in Florida (US) this weekend, without a tender process last week.

It claimed that "the rights have been sold to Chennai-based Tech Front, which is a veteran in on-ground-in-stadia cricket rights. While the base price for the broadcast rights for these two matches was mentioned on the BCCI website, no such declaration was made by the cricket board for the ground rights deal."

It's pertinent to mention that the Supreme Court on July 18 accepted the majority of Lodha Committee recommendations, also mandating "transparency" in all financial dealings of the BCCI.

Meanwhile, the BCCI has reportedly asked Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) to "take part in a tender process" to retain the rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) so that the entire deal can be handled in the most transparent manner possible.

Sources in the Lodha committee to the publication have also expressed surprise that while the BCCI is toeing the transparency line for the IPL rights, it sold the ground rights for the Florida matches without a stipulated tender process.