Spartan says all is well with Dhoni

Australia-based Spartan Sports, a sporting gear and equipment company that was accused of duping India's One-day and T20 skipper MS Dhoni by over Rs 20 crore, says they are not in any dispute whatsoever with the cricketer or his company Rhiti Sports.

"Spartan refutes the claims that they are in dispute with MS Dhoni and Rhiti Sports. As a matter of fact, the recent press reports have made Kunal Sharma, managing director at Spartan, and Arun Pandey, managing director at Rhiti Sports, meet in India," the sports equipment company said in a statement. A week ago, Pandey was quoted as saying in the media that "everything is not smooth (with Spartan) and hopefully the matter will be resolved soon".

On Tuesday, Pandey did not revert to a text message if Rhiti had indeed sorted out matters. It had been reported last week that a three-year bat and sponsorship deal worth Rs 13 crore had gone sour and the company owed Dhoni an amount in excess of Rs 20 cr.

Spartan now says those reports were an "attempt to disrupt the relationship" between Dhoni and Rhiti Sports. Spartan claims they now have a number of new initiatives underway with the star cricketer.