Mr Lalit Modi, the man of the moment, has whatever it takes to be where he is and he is here not by default, but by choice. He has all this while got bouquets and brickbats in plenty for his ambitious venture, the IPL, and he has accepted both with élan. Today, with the IPL muck getting murkier by the day, he has been knocked down, but certainly he is not out. He is a fighter and a survivor who will not go down without a fight, not this time. And he shouldn’t ideally.
In these three years, the man made the business of cricket appear lucrative enough for one and all, from big industrial houses and bigger Bollywood stars to those who loved the game, vie for a pie in the IPL cake. Even cricket players from across the globe rushed to be part of it. And, why not? It was worth it, for the game promised moolah, loads of it, to the organizers, the players, broadcasters, advertisers, and all those who wanted to mint money. And with who’s who of the glitterati being a part of the extravaganza, it also had the required glam quotient to make it fashionable enough to be seen cheering for your local teams, rubbing shoulders with the stars, and watch in awe the cricketers as they sweat it out on the field to score runs or catch a ball in T-20. For Lalit Modi, he had managed it well. And IPL was a stylish statement to announce to the world that he had arrived on the scene and he was here to stay.
He had no doubt, till he decided to spoil it all himself and play the Devil. There’s no denying the fact that he loves to court controversy, for all the reasons, wrong or right is for no one to decide because it would difficult to decide which is black, the pot or the kettle. If his IPL season one gave people chance see their dream players from across the globe, unite and fight to win the trophy, aptly cheered by skimpily dressed cheerleaders much to the displeasure of the conservatives, season two was marred by the tiff with the Home Ministry over holding the matches in India as the dates clashed with another extravaganza, the general elections. He was quick, prompt in decision-making and at the same time adamant to the point of being rude. He didn’t budge. He chose to change the venue and not the dates and shifted IPL season two to faraway land, South Africa. It was an idea that not many would have come up with and not so quickly.
If that was not all, it was time for IPL season three and it promised to be bigger and better than its two previous seasons and it was so far, at least till the time the TWEET war began. And hwat paved way for it was perhaps the bidding process in March for two more teams who would play in season four of the game. There were many takers for the two Teams, five of them to be precise, but somehow only two of them won the bid, the Sahara Group and the Rendezvous Sports, a consortium of business houses, to own teams, Pune and Kochi respectively. It was astonishing to see how IPL had graduated from the IPL-I auction in 2007 which saw eight teams being sold for Rs 2,840 crore, to this bidding where these two new teams alone fetched a whopping Rs 3,035.53 crore.
All eyes, I am sure must have popped out to see money change the colour of the game, but we the people were either busy watching cricket or making money ourselves, of course, from betting on different gaming sites. The role played by gaming sites in this is to be credited for letting common people also rake in moolah.  
And then Mr Modi decided that enough is enough. It’s time to play the game, dirtier the better. The slugfest began and it was Mr Modi versus Others (the government, the media and his enemies). On April 11, he let the cat out of the bag and that too on a hot tin roof, by using a social networking site to reveal the investment pattern of one of the recently acquired Team owners, their stakeholders and also the involvement of a minister in the current government. Well, he set the ball rolling and he knew what he was up to. Some plain mischief to let people acknowledge that he is the master mind, who can not only make things but also mar them, all just to please himself. Or what can best describe his strange behavioral pattern. It was insane, bizarre and completely out context act to have opened a can of worms, and that knowing well the far-reaching complications it would have. The toss had been won by him in this Test match and he chose to bat first, scoring runs as he made one revelation after the other to leave his opponents gasping for breath.  
To begin with the Kochigate, the Jack and Jill story with a modern day twist. Jack and Jill went up the hill, and Jill fell down and both of them came tumbling soon after. If the first one to hog the limelight was the concerned minister’s “good friend” who had no choice but to let go her stake in the consortium, and then the minister who had to relinquish his chair owing to his alleged role in the not-so fair bidding process. It was good enough for the government to swing into action, but then if they had to pay the price for their minister’s involvement, why should Modi be spared? He boasted of few supporters in the ranks of power till then but slowly and steadily they chose to distance themselves from him and the murky business.
His innings had just over and it was time for his opponents to start theirs. Every body got to air his or her opinion on this issue in the corridors of power, from disbanding IPL, to involvement of black money in this business of cricket, to setting up a joint parliamentary committee to probe the IPL scam and Modi’s role, to betting, gambling, et all kept the politicians talking, the public watching, and the media busy in managing the matter. And this too was stage-managed, if I may say to an extent by Mr Modi. He knew his time had come for he was caught on the wrong foot, especially after the Twitter revelations on this sticky wicket. Slowly and slowly the government woke up to hit hard and hit where it hurt the most, to start with Modi’s reputation.
Murmurs about his chequered past, his present involvement in the business of the game, of course all of it behind the scenes as a proxy stakeholder in various teams and even in the companies which own broadcast rights, his political affiliations, the conflict of interests, and et al grew louder. The pursuit began with IT raids on Modi’s office and followed it with subsequent raids on the offices of the franchisees, one after the other. The architect of the game was still unperturbed. He knew if he was on a sinking ship, he would happily take many others with him. The media began working overtime to extract all the details, get all the information from one and sundry and talk, debate and discuss, it in their studios at primetime news, devote precious editorial space for this coverage, and pamper it with considerable attention. Surprisingly, the same journalists were deep in their slumber till some time back, showering him with lavish praises for changing the landscape of the game were hounding him now. They got to know it all after being tipped off by the man himself on all the wrongdoings. Where were they when it was all happening, behind the closed doors in the boardrooms? Did the media have no inkling of all—who owned the teams, the conflict of interests, alleged role of the BCCI team, involvements of politicians and their kith and kin in this sporting spectacle, the names of those who had a whopping share in the IPL cake and how and why the government didn’t bother to be play a watchdog in this matter (the IPL)? Why did it not raise its ear when the IPL had set the tongues wagging after humungous amount of money was being flaunted at bidding for owning the Teams, auction of players, organizing the matches, and seek tax details for good three years. With skeletons tumbling out of the closet every passing moment, it is a gripping drama, rather a mellowed drama, where the lead player is the hero and also the villain and it is he who has not only acted in it, but has also scripted and directed it. But more than him, it is the astounding role of the supporting cast (the media, the government and of course, his enemies) that walks away with all the accolades.
Well, this all shows that the Man of the Moment is no doubt ahead of his times. He has brought this slugfest to a nail-biting finish. The card house has been hit by a storm and it is falling one-by-one. But we have hope for whenever the going has got tough for him, he has always got tougher. And to say the least, thanks, Mr Modi for waking up every body, from those in the power to the power player and also the public which has no option but watch the game as it gets murkier, nastier and dirtier haplessly, and it is there that its involvement begins and ends. Mind you, the show will go on so stay hooked and glued.

Other Blogs

Indian Premier League 2012 Auctions

BAT IN FUSION, NOT CONFUSION

PLAY YOUR ROLE OR HEADS WILL ROLL!

Indian Premier League Schedule

TEST FAILURES WILL END IN DETEST!

Blogger

Ajay Dev Singh is an avid cricket lover.

12 comments

uiqpqq

ryoxzp , [url=http://axqsspozvxib.com/]axqsspozvxib[/url], [link=http://bpbcjclbnrkg.com/]bpbcjclbnrkg[/link], http://ufnkgipjatol.com/

ytmcmbmp

ifqthl rjguwhqipntb

cekctxaefny

wks6yt , [url=http://bzvwhefzarfn.com/]bzvwhefzarfn[/url], [link=http://htutxrjidyjn.com/]htutxrjidyjn[/link], http://nxicblptchod.com/

hgxxdarq

nlnihx fjgzbbbwmcbj

Dalton

this is way btteer than a brick & mortar establishment.

Arun chatterjee

i think mr modi will give some time to justify his case.

narayan

modi is the person who make ipl is such a big brand and bcci and govt., inspite of apreciating modi's visionary efforts, they all are want to kick off modi. i am sure modi will come out of this episode very soon( good luck mr modi)

Sahir

i remeber a famous line from bollywood flick guru - "jab log pather marne lage samjho taraqi kar rahe ho". the same with mr.modi. i am sure he will come out of this whole episode more strongly

sri

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/ipl-row-in-parliament-opposition-asks-govt-were-you-sleeping-20716.php

Shikhar

media's activism is ridiculous. how could it be that it didn't get a whiff of all that has happening in the ipl, vis-a-vis lalit modi. why is it crying hoarse over his role and involvements in the various companies, teams and the rest? did it not know about these things before? or it chose to maintain stoic silence deliberatley and was waiting for someone else to blow the whistle on this issue. it showed how good it is at its job. perhaps, it needs to pull up its socks and do what it is expected to do. be fair and just, not biased and prejudiced.

ramesh

but how can we leave behind the bcci? it ought to acted a lot more responsibly. it was creating a sporting body, but failed miserably in regulating and controlling it effectively. dismal failure on its part and it is unpardonable. it has to share the blame with the ipl chief and others for creating this mess.

shankar

more than modi, the government and the media needs to get its act right to avoid such situations. one pretends that it didn't know about it and the other didn't see any wrong. after satyam scandal, journalists need to be more vigilant and active. they have to fill in where rest fail.