In an exclusive interview with Wisden for The Scoop Extended, IPL founder and former chair Lalit Modi revealed that he regrets giving too much power over the IPL to the BCCI administration.
The Indian Premier League started in 2008, and the product that brought cricket and entertainment together in India kick-started a wave of T20 leagues sprouting up in every corner of the world.
Lalit Modi is often credited with coming up with the idea of IPL and pitching it to BCCI, which then formalized the league and is now reaping the rewards of the same, as the valuation of the tournament and the participating teams has skyrocketed over the years.
Speaking to Wisden for The Scoop Extended, Modi said, “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 me not being part of the game since then?
"It (The idea of 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.”
Lalit Modi: Regret leaving the governance of IPL with the BCCI
After the conclusion of the third season of the IPL in 2010, Modi was suspended by the BCCI over issues like financial irregularities and misconduct. The IPL founder was later expelled and banned for life by the board, forcing him to quit local cricket administration as well by the end of 2017.
Lalit Modi said, “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.”
The former IPL chairman concluded, “I could have dictated at the time what I wanted because everybody thought it’s gonna fail. They didn’t really care about it, I had already written the constitution of a separate company being formed. Obviously, 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.”
Since 2011, BCCI Chirayu Amin, Rajiv Shukla, Ranjib Biswal, Brijesh Patel, and Arun Singh Dhumal have held the post of IPL chair. Dhumal continues to serve till date, having started in 2022, with Devajit Saikia (honorary secretary, BCCI), Raghuram Bhat (honorary treasurer, BCCI), Khairul Majumdar (member, IPL), D Jaisankar (CAG nominee), and Shubhangi Kulkarni (ICA representative) currently also part of the IPL governing council.
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