The Indian Premier League (IPL), recently rated the hottest sports league by Forbes magazine, is generating a different kind of heat within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The Indian Premier League (IPL), recently rated the hottest sports league by Forbes magazine, is generating a different kind of heat within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), threatening to split the powerful body wide open.
The IPL’s chief architect Lalit Modi is embroiled in a power struggle with N Srinivasan, secretary of the BCCI and the man believed to be responsible for the unilateral termination of the board’s contract with the International Management Group (IMG).
IMG is the force behind the conceptualisation and execution of the IPL, without whose support Modi will be helpless.
On Wednesday, when the governing council of the IPL meets, discussions will be on resolving the IMG issue. The BCCI claims the price charged by IMG is too high, but “if Modi convinces IMG to renegotiate, the whole issue can be resolved”, said a senior board official. However Modi, miffed by this decision, is not willing to toe Srinivasan’s line. What helps Modi’s cause is that he has the blessings of Sharad Pawar.
As reported by DNA on Tuesday, the former BCCI president has sided with the franchisees, and in turn, with Modi. “It’s our duty to protect not only BCCI but also all its stakeholders,” Pawar said in his letter to board president Shashank Manohar, adding, “Reading the contents of the termination, I feel this unilateral move will put the BCCI in jeopardy. Not only will this lead to a prolonged legal battle but it will also show us in bad light.”
Even the franchisees (all barring Chennai Super Kings owned by Srinivasan) have protested the termination of the IMG deal through letters, copies of which are in DNA’s possession.
Members of the Srinivasan faction say that franchisees cannot dictate the manner in which the IPL is conducted. “Tomorrow they’ll demand that the president should be sacked. We can’t bow to their demands,” said a key member of the board.
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