India won the T20 World Cup 2007 under MS Dhoni's captaincy.
Modi revealed that he personally talked to all the senior players when India was touring England from July 19 to September 8, 2007, for a three-Test and seven-ODI series, just before the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 began in South Africa on September 11.
Despite being on the England trip, experienced players like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly were left out of India's T20 World Cup team. Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, RP Singh, and Irfan Pathan were among the players on the team, which was captained by MS Dhoni.
After a lengthy tour, Modi said that many players disregarded the new cricket format and had little interest in staying longer for the competition.
"I went to every player in the dressing room in England when India was touring in 2007. I went, and I said, 'Please, I beg you to play the T20.' They said, 'Lalit, are you joking?' What is this stupid game? We don't want to play it.
Oh, we've had a long tour. We want to be with our families. 'Now, today, would the public, number one, the players, number two, and the administrator, number three, accept a player not playing in the World Cup? There'd be uproar," Modi told ANI in an interview.
Modi also said the BCCI chose to send a young side to the tournament instead of its established stars.
"The BCCI didn't even send the main team, the India team, to South Africa to play the World Cup T20. They sent a second team. 'Let's not even send the India team. Let's put our new team under Mahendra Singh Dhoni. 'Completely raw. Completely green. The Tendulkars, the Dravids, and the Saurav Gangulys: none of them played in the T20 World Cup. Would you accept that today? Today, if the Indian team is to go to the World Cup, any World Cup, would you accept a B team? Would the public accept a B team? Would the board accept a B team?" he added.
Modi also stated that the board and the broadcasters didn’t grasp the value of T20 cricket in the initial years.
"Nobody believed in the T20 cricket in India. If there are no eyeballs, there are no advertising dollars. There are no advertising dollars, there's no subscription. If someone is watching, then there will be money. If no one is watching, then there will be no money. Today, anything that has eyeballs is going to get the money from the advertisers," he said.
Modi went on to say that it wasn't until Yuvraj Singh smashed six sixes in an over against England that the first T20 World Cup attracted a sizable audience. According to him, that incident contributed to a rise in interest in the competition and a shift in opinions regarding the format.
"The T20 World Cup in South Africa had no ratings till Yuvraj Singh hit the six sixes. Till that very day. I orchestrated that. It just happened. I just said anybody who makes six sixes or takes six wickets in an over, I'll give you a Porsche. I was trying to make something happen when nobody wanted to make it happen. I went around the world trying to convince people because I knew it would work," he said.
India won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. On the other hand, Tendulkar and Dravid did play a handful of T20Is for India before their retirement, but had a long career in the Indian Premier League that followed the T20 World Cup.
(ANI inputs)