Lalit Modi – The erstwhile prince who can never return to the throne

He was cricket’s most extroverted, maverick and high profile administrator just as Kerry Packer. He was the man who introduced to the world a tournament which changed the landscape of the game completely. This was all not too long ago.

But come 2013 and ironically the very same people who became moneybags due to his ideas are the ones who have thrown him out of the organization. Perhaps, Lalit Modi is the only one who despite being in London has the ability to expose BCCI’s practices someday for vengeance.

Modi was no saint, though. Having lived in the USA, he fell in lust with their business attitude. He had to win ‘at all costs’, was extremely money minded, efficient but cocky about his work.
Inspired by the NBA and realizing that the ICL did not have as much financial and marketing acumen as the BCCI did, he decided to hit three birds with one stone. While he convinced the board of the profits the IPL will bring as well as with it killing its competitor (ICL), he also managed to convince his family and celebrity friends to invest in the tournament since there were no takers/buyers for his idea back in 2008.

No doubt he pulled several strings to ensure that the tournament was held in South Africa within three weeks of the Indian government refusing to provide security due to the 2009 general elections. And it is likely that Modi was the lynchpin of fixing auctions if not the match results, from the first year itself.

He was the man who ran the ship, but was still under the diktat of the BCCI only. Modi was a growing phenomenon in the cricketing world, especially in India where he had a huge say in Punjab and Rajasthan cricket. His increasing power naturally got onto the officials, who themselves are perennially involved in a power struggle. Thus knowing his flamboyancy and imperfections, all that the BCCI hoped for was one mistake of his to get rid of him.

And that came when Modi disclosed the ownership pattern of the now defunct, Kochi franchise on Twitter. He is a classic example of having the talent to succeed, but could not eventually because of his inflated ego. He is now a polarizing figure; some may like him still due to his leadership and business skills which have made BCCI what it is today. While some may dislike him for being unethical in achieving what he wanted to.

Whatever said and done, Modi is a closed chapter but just the tip of the iceberg. In the wake of the spot fixing scandal, can’t the BCCI themselves be questioned for being hypocrites in this situation?