||CF Correspondent||

Robi Axiata, country’s leading Telecom Company, decided to terminate their sponsorship deal with Bangladesh Cricket Board without completing their two-year term as they believe they have not got their due share of mileage from the board.

On Sunday, Cricfrenzy obtained a statement copy of Robi, where they put their announcement on pen and paper.

‘’It has been the greatest honor for us to have the privilege of being the proud sponsor of the national cricket team, our Tigers. We fondly recall the meteoric rise of our Tigers in the global cricketing arena as soon as we became the sponsor in 2015. Our Tigers’ splendid performance on the field has been equally matched with an efficient management in Bangladesh Cricket Board under the leadership of its President, Nazmul Hasan Papon, MP. We are also grateful to all the fans and the friends from the media for your unrelenting love and encouragement during this period,’’ Robi was quoted in the statement.

‘’However, it is with deep dismay, we feel that the current sponsorship arrangement falls short in upholding the spirit of the agreement. In such a backdrop, with sincere regret, Robi decided to discontinue the sponsorship of the national cricket team with immediate effect. We remain a staunch supporter of Bangladesh Cricket and would be keen to stand by our team in a different capacity in the future,’’ the statement added.

Last time around, Robi purchased the rights from media planning company Top of Mind after BCB had announced Top of Mind as the highest bidder with Tk41.41 crores for the time frame of 2015-2017 and later was retained by BCB for another two years.

BCB in 2017 awarded mobile phone network operator Robi sponsorship rights of the national team for two years for the time frame of June 2017 till June 2019.

Robi was currently title sponsor of the Bangladesh men and women’s team, the men's U-19 side and the men's A team, emerged as the highest bidder during the last bidding that was participated initially by five companies but ending up with Robi and Pran.

The floor price of the bid was Tk 60 crores and Robi was announced as the winner although the amount remained undisclosed. 

 In June 2012, Sahara had outbid Grameenphone, who had sponsored the Bangladesh team for eight years, to sponsor the Tigers with a $14 million four-year deal.