Mumbai, May 31: Sahara has bought the title sponsorship rights to Team India at a time corporate spenders seem to be preferring IPL franchises over the national squad.

Sahara India Financial Corporation edged out the only other contestant, Bharti Airtel, to ensure that the Sahara logo will continue on the Indian cricket team jersey in Tests, ODIs and T20s for the next three years.

But there are still no takers for the India A, Under-19 and the national women’s cricket teams. Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), however, said the Sunil Mittal-owned telecom giant could be offered the rights but no decision had been taken.

Sahara outbid Airtel’s Rs 2.89-crore-a-match offer with its Rs 3.34-crore-a-game bid to be the title sponsor from July 1, 2010, to December 31, 2013. The company, which sponsored the team from December 2005 to December 2009, had then paid Rs 1.91 crore for a Test, Rs 2.08 crore for every ODI and Rs 1.56 crore for a T20 match. Sahara’s earlier contract was worth Rs 313 crore, but the company eventually paid Rs 435 crore to the board because India played more matches.

Under the new deal, Sahara will shell out between Rs 461 crore and Rs 567 crore during the next three-and-a-half years, depending on the number of matches played by India.

India is expected to play between 140 and 167 Tests, ODIs and T20s during the contract period, depending on their success in competitions.

Sahara will have to provide a bank guarantee for the full bid amount within the next three days. Besides, at the beginning of every year, it will have to pay the sponsorship money for that period.

“The BCCI marketing committee followed a transparent process in inviting the tenders. The tenders were opened today and Sahara’s bid was much higher than Airtel’s. The tender for ground rights and production rights will be issued later,” said Rajiv Shukla, a member of the BCCI’s marketing committee.

When fresh bids were invited about a week ago, Reliance ADAG, Videocon, Monnet Ispat and Energy, Hero Honda, Percept and Nimbus had all picked up forms. But eventually they opted out after the sponsorship amount started travelling northward.

The bid document forms were made available from May 25 for a non-refundable fee of Rs 5 lakh. The BCCI had mandated that the bidders should have a turnover of at least Rs 1,000 crore a year and had put a base price of Rs 2.5 crore a match plus a security deposit of Rs 50 crore.

Sahara and Bharti walked in late, submitting their bid documents this morning just before the BCCI marketing committee met to pick the sponsor. The eligibility documents and security deposits had, however, been submitted on Saturday.

“In a way, we are thankful to these companies for making the late bids. Otherwise, it would have been a huge embarrassment for us,” said a BCCI source.

Sahara had come to the BCCI’s rescue last November as well, when no one was willing to pick up the fresh title sponsorship bid as the base price of Rs 3.5 crore a match was seen as too high.