Telecom giant Bharti Airtel wins India's home series sponsorship rights

As organizers of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi struggle to hold on to sponsors, the Indian cricket board on Friday announced a new sponsor for its home matches.

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel was awarded the team's home series sponsorship rights for three years.

India cricket board secretary N. Srinivasan said Bharti Airtel won the rights with a bid of 33 million rupees ($700,000) per test, one-day international or Twenty20 match.

The reserve price for the bid was 20 million rupees ($425,000) per match.

The rights were previously owned by sports management firm World Sports Group, which used to sell them on to various corporate sponsors. World Sports Group did not bid this time.

Earlier this year, Bharti Airtel lost its bid for the team sponsorship rights to Sahara India group.

Cricket attracts lucrative sponsorships in India due to a paucity of stars in other disciplines. The Commonwealth Games were seen as an opportunity, but adverse publicity in the run-up to the October event seem to have robbed it of the chance.

The National Thermal Power Corporation and the Power Grid Corporation of India on Thursday backed out of sponsorship commitments of 200 million rupees ($4 million) and 100 million rupees ($2 million) respectively.