Controversies in the Indian Premier League: Lalit Modi vs. N Srinivasan, Round 2
Season three of the Indian Premier League was concluded some months back, but its controversies still haunt many in the Indian cricket fraternity. Allegations and counter allegations are on the rise. Corruption charges are rampant and every day some new accusations surface in the media. The recent allegations by the former IPL’s chairman Lalit Modi against Secretary N Srinivasan fuelled the already controversy strife IPL management. In the blame game between Lalit Modi and the senior officials of IPL, BCCI had a dominant role to play. In this controversy of a serious nature, the BCCI has now supported Secretary N Srinivasan against Lalit Modi. BCCI repudiated Lalit Modi’s accusation against Srinivasan. The allegations leveled by Lalit Modi involved senior officials of IPL for fixing the 2009 players’ auction. BCCI President Shashank Manohar regarded the allegations as baseless and false lies. He rebuffed the former Chairman for accusations against the Secretary. The BCCI president offered his comments after the working committee meeting. It is pertinent to mention that Secretary IPL Srinivasan owned the Chennai Super Kings.
The president of the BCCI claimed to have documented papers that prove the allegations to be white lies and an attempt to shift the concentration of authorities probing the corruption charges against Lalit Modi.
The BCCI president confirmed that the documents were presented in front of the committee members and all the members witnessed the papers themselves.
Secretary IPL Srinivasan had two days earlier discarded the accusations leveled by Lalit Modi in which Srinivasan was accused of winning the English player Andrew Flintoff (outbidding http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajasthan-c837 Royals) through fixing the bid in the 2009 players’ auction.
The news on one of the Indian TV channels had caused ripples in the cricket fraternity all around http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. The TV channel, in its report, revealed an email written by the former Chairman Lalit Modi to the Secretary N. Srinivasan. The content of the email read: “what a nightmare to convince them not to terminate (Sohail) Tanvir and also not to take Flintoff. (Shane) Warne went off the handle. But have managed it by using stick and carrot strategy. Thus they have USD 1.875 million. Much love Lalit".
Lalit Modi’s lawyer Mehmood Abdi has, meanwhile, hit back at the BCCI president after he called Modi a ‘liar’ for accusing N Srinivasan of fixing the players’ auction. He is reported to have said: "Very unfortunate to hear such an intemperate expression by BCCI president http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shashank-Manohar-c89791 calling Lalit Modi a liar, whereas Mr. Modi has not said anything.”
Irrespective of the veracity of allegations and the counter-allegations, the process is not at all beneficial for Indian cricket. IPL, on the verge of take-off for a successful flight, has been stricken by corruption. A sport is known to be an activity that exudes positive influence and healthy activities. However, when the management of the sport is handed over to corrupt officials, it results in corruption and a variety of scandals. The responsibility to appoint honest, principled and upright persons for the management of any sports activity lies with the government. The former chairman Lalit Modi seems to be in more deep waters with a criminal charge sheet raised against him. In the BCCI meeting, committee members were informed about the serious criminal charges that have been prepared against Lalit Modi. The positive element that surfaced during the BCCI meeting was the presentation on financial performance of the IPL league. It was revealed that the BCCI earned a profit of 66 crore other than the 39 crore loss that incurred during the IPL Season Three. Similarly, the champions league earned BCCI a profit of 40 crore.
The important concern for an ardent cricket fan would be to ensure transparency in the sport. It doesn’t matter whether the game brings profit or not. The real issue is to maintain transparency and protect a glorious game from stigmatization. Corrupt officials like Lalit Modi must be made an example of in front of the whole world and BCCI must evolve a comprehensive strategy to ensure that such incidents don’t recur in the future. Another scandalous issue that surfaced during the IPL - Season III was the intentional rejection of neighboring country http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s world-class talented players.
Although the issue was not given due coverage in the Indian media due to the traditional animosity between the two rival countries, there was mala fide injustice meted out to Pakistani players. Traditional animosity aside, sports must be kept free from political and ideological issues so that it could prove to be a harbinger of peace rather than fuelling hatred.
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