Lalit Modi rendered homeless after loss

A few hours after the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) election, Lalit Modi flew out of Jaipur, to attend a marriage in Macau. He will be back in Mumbai soon to resume his functions as chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Far from the hustle and bustle of the media, Modi would have some tranquil time during his long flight to and from Hong Kong to recollect his breath and calculate the impact of the crushing defeat he suffered on Sunday.

He will soon realise that it is expected to have far-reaching, if not immediate, impact on his burgeoning career as a cricket administrator. The obvious fallout of the defeat is that the jet-setting official of Indian cricket has been rendered homeless.

The commissioner of the IPL does not have a home state which consequently means he will not have a vote in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) although he would be able to attend the board meetings by virtue of being a vice president. (Modi incidentally is also the vice-president of the Punjab Cricket Association).

Modi was elected vice-president from the Central Zone last September. Although he is entitled to continue for three years, he will have to seek fresh mandate after two years. Which means, till September 2010, his vice-presidentship is not in jeopardy but the question is will his adversaries in the Board allow him to continue in the post?

A day before the Board elections last year, Modi had claimed that many of his colleagues were jealous of his success. Modi was the only man to raise questions (not objections, he said) when the then president Sharad Pawar wanted to amend the constitution to make provision for a president-elect in August 2007. There were no backers for his stand.

At that time, he was considered an aspirant for the president’s post of the BCCI. Pawar is believed to have convinced him that there is a lot of time left for him. He was later satisfied with the powers and challenges that came with the subsequent creation of the IPL.

Sunday’s result will not have any bearing on the IPL as the league council is an autonomous body attached to the BCCI but there is likely to be some impact on Rajasthan Royals. Post defeat he has stated that he did not foresee any danger to the IPL matches in the Pink City but at some time he is certain to look at the option of having matches elsewhere.

A lot will depend how much support he gets from the new dispensation in the RCA under Sanjay Dixit who has won the election after a bitter and acrimonious fight.