The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have given the go ahead to Sahara Pune Warriors to convince the other eight franchises to allow them field five foreigners, instead of permitted four, in the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting April 4.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have given the go ahead to Sahara Pune Warriors to convince the other eight franchises to allow them field five foreigners, instead of permitted four, in the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting April 4. But Sahara seems to be facing a roadblock as far as convincing other franchises are concerned. 
Subroto Roy
At least four franchises are not in favour of endorsing Sahara's appeal of including five foreigners in the playing XI. "This is purely a business venture and so there shouldn't be any such requests from any franchise. All teams are facing this problem of players' injuries, but this is part and parcel of the game and you have to live with it," a franchise official told MiD DAY yesterday.
Another team official, though sympathising with Pune Warriors for Yuvraj Singh's illness, felt that the Pune outfit won't be able to convince all teams. "I don't think any team will accept Pune Warriors fielding five foreigners in the fifth edition. In this format, everyone has a strategy of their own and so it's not apt to allow someone any kind of edge," he said on condition of anonymity.
However, Pune Warriors' decision to skip the auction held on February 4 in Bangalore also didn't go down well with few franchises. "Why did they stay away from the auction? They could have picked up few players from there," the official said.
Levi on wishlist
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Sahara had a meeting with mentor Sourav Ganguly to finalise the players they should try and rope in.u00a0u00a0South Africa's new sensation Richard Levi, who smashed the fastest Twenty20 century (in 45 balls) yesterday against New Zealand, could be in Sahara's wishlist. Levi went unsold during the last auction earlier this month.
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