Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has shared that he regrets giving so much power to the BCCI when it came to the Indian Premier League. He also stated that the tournament wouldn’t have worked if not for him.
The IPL, which started in 2008, was conceptualized by Lalit Modi and has now evolved into a multi-billion-dollar sports league. IPL is one of the top-five most popular and richest sports leagues in the world. It has also become the benchmark for franchise-based competitions globally, inspiring several leagues across countries.
Lalit Modi had pitched the idea of the IPL to the BCCI in the late 1990s, as revealed by Saba Karim, former India keeper and selector. The IPL was eventually launched in 2008 and concluded its 19th edition on May 31, with its valuation now soaring to unprecedented levels.
Lalit Modi vigorously defended his IPL heritage. He maintained that, in spite of years of criticism, he did not consider any of his choices to be errors and asserted that the tournament would never have been successful without him.
“I was cut to size because of many other issues. Everybody was jealous. It wouldn’t have worked if I had not been who I was. The IPL wouldn’t have worked if not for me. Why are you talking to me 17 years later, despite my not being part of the game since then?
It (the idea of the IPL) just didn’t come out of thin air. It went through a lot of scientific research and a lot of learnings of mine. Everybody around the world has tried to create what I created and failed. When people say I made a mistake, I didn’t make a mistake. If I had to ever do this again, it wouldn’t be any different from what I did last time,” Modi said on Wisden for The Scoop Extended podcast.
Up until the conclusion of its third season, Modi continued to be involved with the IPL. He was ousted from his positions as BCCI vice president and IPL commissioner in 2010, and he was then banned from cricket administration for life due to allegations of corruption.
The accusations included the unapproved sale of internet and TV rights, as well as problems in the 2010 bidding procedure for two new franchises.
Modi also thought about what he believes to be his greatest regret during his tenure as league president. He acknowledged that he departed India without establishing a governance framework that would have given the IPL and its teams more control over the tournament's management.
He also said that he gave the BCCI too much power, even though he could change the league.
“I regretted the fact that I left India without doing certain things that had to be done. The founder of the IPL should always get a seat on the board of the league. I gave too much power to the BCCI. I could have dictated at the time what I wanted because everybody thought it was going to fail.
They didn’t really care about it. I had already written the constitution of a separate company being formed. Obviously, the BCCI would continue to get the money, but the governance of the league should have been in partnership with the IPL owners along with the BCCI,” Modi added.
Since 2011, Chirayu Amin, Rajiv Shukla, Ranjib Biswal, Brijesh Patel, and Arun Singh Dhumal have served as IPL chairman. Dhumal has held the position since assuming office in 2022.
(Wisden inputs)
