Kolkata, April 29: Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly might be at the centre of another controversy, but his close friends are certain that his contract with an international sports manufacturer (read Puma) does not have anything that goes against the team’s interests.

Ganguly himself remained tight-lipped about the contract, but the former Bengal under-19 player Sanjay Das, known to be close to Ganguly, ruled out the possibility of linking payment with the time Ganguly spent at the crease.

"This is impossible. Such a clause cannot officially be associated with any contract," Das told this newspaper on Sunday.

Former board president Raj Singh Dungarpur, who was a special invitee to the BCCI working committee meeting on April 7, said that the contract of any individual player did not come up for discussion in the meeting.

"As far as I can recall, we discussed the players endorsement issue as a whole but not of any individual," Mr Dungarpur added.

Meanwhile, Das added: "Puma also sponsors Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. The terms and conditions of that contract vis-à-vis the one with Sourav could be different given the fact that India is the largest cricket market in the world.

"But any player worth his salt will not do anything that goes against the team’s interest. Please do remember, Sourav helped build this Team India when he took charge in the hour of crisis. He was adjudged player of the tournament in the home series against Sri Lanka just before the World Cup.

Questioning the integrity of such a player, who has scored more than 15,000 runs in international cricket for his country leaves a bad taste in the mouth." Incidentally, BCCI president Sharad Pawar, in a recent television interview said that the board had received "an unofficial complaint" that a player’s contract had a clause that provided more incentives if he spent maximum time at the crease.

Ganguly, though had a moderately successful World Cup campaign, was reportedly accused of defying team management’s instruction of scoring quick runs against Bermuda and Sri Lanka.

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BCCI gives clean chit to Sourav

New Delhi, April 29: The Indian cricket board on Sunday gave a clean chit to Sourav Ganguly who had himself offered to show his endorsement contract papers to BCCI amidst media reports that the deal contained a clause which provided financial incentives for more time spent at the crease.

The BCCI went through Ganguly’s endorsement documents and found nothing objectionable, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla said.

"Reports of the clause which talked about more incentives for time spent at the crease are baseless and unfounded. There is nothing objectionable," Shukla said. (PTI)