Modi saab, what happened to your vion (vision)?

Lalit Kumar Modi has transformed Indian Cricket into a money-making machine. This machine would continue to make money as long as the home team wins, or atleast be competitive. That is not what we are witnessing in Sri Lanka since July 23, 2008. The disgraceful display of incompetence that the Indian Test Team has shown is beyond comprehension. It is not only the pathetic performance of our fast-aging players, it is the sheer stupidity of the selection board of BCCI. Either they are brain dead or are typical Indian Babus who are bribed to their eye balls. What else would justify such a selection? There are rumors that Sachin Tendulkar might join Bollywood. I would suggest he should find some role in his films for Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. Every time they screw up, their expressions are worth watching. I would also urge our patriotic big-wigs of Bollywood to find suitable roles for Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan. Sourav Ganguly is not bad-looking either.

Lalit Modi, Vice President of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), was born on November 29, 1963 in New Delhi, India. He is the son of KK Modi (Krishan Kumar Modi), the eldest son of Late Rai Bahadur Gujarmal Modi (Founder of the Modi Group). Lalit Modi attended Duke University in North Carolina for a degree in management during 1980s, but had to depart in a haste in the wake of charges of drug abuse. He came back to India and worked for Estee Lauder. He soon started working for Godfrey Phillips, a Modi Enterprise. Lalit Modi’s forays into Indian cricket began with the RCA (Rajasthan Cricket Association). The Rungta Family ruled RCA as their own fiefdom and had a powerful grip over the BCCI. Modi, with the help of Punjab’s Inderjit Singh Bindra, managed to overthrow the Rungtas from the BCCI, via the courts. He emerged as a new power broker and it was here that one could see the personality of Lalit Modi. There was a new dawn over the BCCI horizon.

The next step came in late November, 2005 when anti-Dalmiya forces rallied around for what would turn out to be the most acrimonious BCCI board election in decades. Jagmohan Dalmiya (erstwhile President of BCCI) was defeated and Sharad Pawar (Union Agriculture Minister) was installed as the new President of the Board of Control for cricket in India and Lalit Modi emerged, grinning triumphantly, as one of the youngest-ever BCCI vice-presidents. Since then, BCCI has emerged as the richest administrative body in the Indian sports arena and is in the process of overtaking England’s Cricket Board. BCCI was established in 1929.

Indian Premier League

Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition created and promoted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and backed by International Cricket Council (ICC). IPL is the brainchild of Lalit Kumar Modi, who is also the chairman and commissioner of the league. Indian Premier League is modeled along the lines of club football in Europe, specially the English Premier League. Lalit Modi has claimed that the idea to monetise Indian Cricket was in his mind since the mid 1990s, but before he could actually implement his plans, Subhash Chandra of Zee Television started an unofficial version called Indian Cricket League (ICL).