Home ›› 21 Feb 2022 ›› Sport
M.M. Ispahani Limited became the title sponsor of the Bangladesh vs Afghanistan series, where both teams will play three One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals, said Bangladesh Cricket Board officials.
Ispahani replaced controversial Aleesha holdings, who were the title sponsor for the last four home series of the Bangladesh national team.
On May 22 last year, BCB officials announced in a press conference that they have struck a deal with Alesha Holdings, Walton and Impress-Matra consortium.
The consortium emerged as the highest bidder with a bid of Tk 32 crore 55 lakhs where the floor price was Taka 26 crore to obtain the title and ground branding rights till October 2023.
The announcement came in a press conference that took place at the BCB premises, where the BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, Executive Director of Alesha holdings Nahid Jahan and Executive Director of Walton Uday Hakim were present.
But the deal apparently failed to run its full course as Alesha emerged as another controversial company taking the advantage of the popularity of cricket to hide their Ponzi scheme.
Earlier, BCB took companies like Evaly, Efood, and Global Neway as sponsors, who used the popularity of the game to build faith among people to carry out their fraudulent activities.
Alesha Mart failed to deliver the products to their customers and was also unable to refund the payments as a large sum of money are kept frozen in payment gateways.
In the new title sponsorship announcement ceremony, Khandokar Alamgir represented Impress-Matra Consortium.
In reply to questions from Journalists regarding Alesha Mart, he said on Sunday, “The answer lies within your question. Everybody knows what Alesha Mart has done. At this moment they are unable to refund the customers’ money, how can they come for a sponsorship? I think it’s better not to discuss this thing here. They are unable to come and we are also not interested to house them.”
“We had the contract with Alesha mart till the Pakistan series, which has already ended,” he added.
Though his words did not match the promise made by Alesha Mart Executive Director Nahida Jahan, who said that to carry forward the cricket, the company will support Bangladesh cricket for the next two years.
On the same occasion, BCB CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said, “We had tendered for the sale of home series rights in the long run. We are getting more than we expected. Bangladesh Cricket Board thanks Alesha Holdings and Walton. Walton has always been on the side of cricket development. This time we have Alesha Holdings by our side.”
But unfortunately, the partnership did not last long as expected as Alesha backed off after seven months, and Ispahani stepped in.
Earlier, The BCB CEO told the media that they were keeping an eye on the situation. But from their end, they have nothing to worry about as the primary contract was with the Impress-Matra consortium.
“We signed a contract with an agent. Whether the agent will keep their ties with Alesha is their matter. They sold the rights to Alesha when they had the goodwill of being a good company. But currently, their goodwill is at stake, and that is the concern of the agent. If necessary, we will look into the matter,” said Nizamuddin Chowdhury.
The Chairman of the media committee at BCB, Tanvir Ahmed, also told the reporters that the clients must also act rationally.
“We hired Matra to bring sponsors for us, which is a difficult job. Who knew that Evaly or Alesha Mart will end up like this? As clients, we must also act responsibly. From the BCB end, we will also do the needful,” Tanvir said on Sunday.
Ispahani is an esteemed business company, more than 200 years old, and has been supportive of cricket for a long time and has emerged as the new title sponsor for the home series against Afghanistan.
Previously, Ispahahi had been the sponsor for the National Cricket League from the beginning and was also the title sponsor for the Zimbabwe-Bangladesh series in July 2021.
