Hero Honda and the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications are the two big names that are expected to take part in the sponsorship of the Indian team after the BCCI opens the tenders on Monday.

As its deal with Sahara ends next month, according to a notice issued by the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, the cricket board has invited applications for sponsorship of the men's, women's, India A and India under-19 teams.

While both the companies were not available for comment but the sources in the industry confirm the fact that the duo is likely to bid for the sponsorship via the tender.

It may be noted here that Sahara got the sponsorship for the Indian team for a whopping Rs 400 crore for a four-year period that ended on December 2009 but since BCCI could not find any sponsor at that moment, the group decided to extend its association for another six months. However, after having bagged the Pune franchise for Rs. 1,700 crore, it is unlikely that the Sahara Group will be much interested in extending the association with the Indian cricket team further.