COMMISSIONER ON THE RUN

Even as yet another IPL is upon us much reminiscent of the Invasion of
the Body Snatchers, one wonders on the efficacy of the League its spin
off benefits and value in terms of deliverables. Fatigue seems to be
the operative word for the bulge bracket cricket league. But in all
this din, hype and hoopla of a new season getting underway, the
loneliness of the progenitor of the league is not lost. Now living in
exile in London, sought by various Indian agencies, a red corner
notice against his name; the scion of the KK Modi business family has
seen fame, adulation and now the depths of anonymity – all in the
space of a couple of years. Modi assiduously worked to create from
ground zero a global cricket league on the lines of the English
Premier League, NBA, NFL and perhaps the F1. And he did good, his ego
rubbing people the wrong way along the route.

Over the last few days, one touched base with Modi, now declared
bankrupt by a London Court for not being able to pay Rs 53 lakh to a
security agency. Adding to his woes is the case against former Kiwi
cricketer Chris Cairns where once again he has been trumped. One tried
to peep into his mind, understand how someone like him used to the
spotlight lives in the shadows of London. The brashness has dulled,
his answers are more cryptic and measured. Sample his take on the
creation of IPL, “There seems to be wide misconception that the IPL
was the direct result of the ICL's launch This is completely untrue. I
had begun my own work on a League way back in 1996 and actually
announced and launched a 50/50 format. Initially, we had the approval
of the BCCI but they then had a change of heart so for over 11 years I
worked behind the scenes to fine tune the idea.
So when I and my colleagues moved onto the Board late in 2005, we
already had a decent plan. But our first task was to get the BCCI
finances and Marketing in order and then I followed with the league
concept. “ He believes that initially there were many naysayers, but
as head of marketing for the BCCI and someone who had raised a billion
dollars for the organization, they finally green lighted the project.

And it sure did capture the imagination of the cricketing and
marketing world. Brendon McCullum’s roaring megaton replete with power
hitting ignited the inaugural tourney. Well, the League was on its
way. But the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Owner’s
pride became neighbour’s envy. Being brash has a price. One has to pay
for rubbing people the wrong side. This is the genesis of the fissures
between Modi and another powerful board satrap N Srinivasan, a
successful businessman himself. As long as Sharad Pawar was a fixture
in the board, Modi could walk on water. Pawar out meant Modi out. The
equation was simple. Modi himself will tell you, “As for what changed,
well the plan I put together and the way we executed it - became the
talk of the world and I guess some people wanted to embrace it as
their own.” So, next stop Srinivasan in, Modi out. In the murky world
of cricket board politics, it doesn’t take long for a star to be
jettisoned. Jagmohan Dalmiya knows that better than anyone else.

Does he miss his million dollar baby? After all, he can’t remain
unaffected by all the accompanying acrimony, the long laundry list of
cases against him and generally how the whole ball of wax has
unfolded. The cookie crumbling rather badly for him. Modi is
diplomatic when he says, “The IPL was - and is - a tremendous
tournament and there is an immense sense of pride at what I was a part
of. So of course I miss the event but the accompanying issues are
something anyone in my position could have done without - and I'm no
different.” Which brings us to the next question, what happened in
those last few days and hours with Srinivasan? Why did things get so
out of hand that he had to sack him as IPL commissioner over e mail?
Modi’s response is muted, “That's pretty much a question you would
need to ask others. Since my departure, the BCCI, largely through the
activities of Mr. Srinivasan, has thrown countless, false and
unsubstantiated allegations in my direction, without any level of
accountability. All of them, have been strenuously refuted by me with
support from substantiated and irrefutable evidence to qualify my
position.” Accepting his karma, Modi says that although it all came
to an abrupt and totally unjustified end, he would rather focus on
what he achieved by bringing the tournament to life in the first
place.

Actually in retrospect if one evaluates the war against Modi and
tabulates the milestones as it were, the real trigger would be Modi
being bested by Sanjay Joshi in the Rajasthan Cricket Association
elections. Board politics runs on votes, just as politics runs
anywhere else in the world. Once Modi was ousted from RCA, and he
didn’t have a formal position in the board, a massive erosion in his
equity took place. That was the catalyst that accentuated his decline
and demise as it were. Again Modi displays candor when he says, “I
suppose that was an issue, yes. The IPL was successful and I was in
the public eye, which some people didn’t seem to like. We had created
a successful product and they wanted a piece of the front-line action.
There were definitely certain people using their status within the
Indian game to make life difficult when, instead, they should have
been enjoying the moment.”

Ironic that Modi who was the toast at cricket grounds for bringing
cricket and entertainment together in a spanking new format is now the
outsider, externed from his own country. Powerful vested interests
within the board seizing the palace and overthrowing the crown prince
in a putsch. Modi, however, maintains that he is a patriotic Indian
and he misses his country very much. He looks forward to the day when
he can return and ‘hopefully that moment won't be too far away.’ Is
something cooking then, is there back channel diplomacy at work to
call off the hounds and allow him to return? He is not willing to
answer any of those queries, in fact, he is being extremely careful
about what he says these days. Modi had many powerful friends
including those among the franchise owners who can play interlocutors
on his behalf. His father K K Modi is a well known industrialist.
Between all of them, there could be a sweetheart deal in the offing
paving the way for Modi’s return.

It is clear that the IPL is struggling, the board and the broadcaster
trying hard to breathe life into the afflicted entity. Season 4 was an
unmitigated disaster. Controversy over Modi’s ouster and subsequently
have left a bad taste in the mouths of the hoi polloi. Many reckon
that IPL was being run like a secret society, one which thrived on a
peculiar type of crony capitalism. Modi was obviously the lynchpin of
the operation, his own larger than life persona domineering. Learnings
for Modi from the debacle: “It would be that we live in a society
where performance and success doesn't always work for you. And neither
does it guarantee you the chance to continue performing or
succeeding! Vested interest sometimes took precedent over the good of
the product and I was simply not ready to accept that. “

Quotes

‘I simply did what was right for the IPL. The success of the
tournament in South Africa was the result of relentless work from a
world class team of people. We had to keep the IPL afloat after the
first year and all the owners supported me. But they only have so much
say and like most sporting federations - a few people who were feeling
left out, ganged up together and they found a natural ally within the
Government. But we kept the IPL alive under near impossible
circumstances.’

‘Srinivasan certainly wanted things done his own way. I pushed back on
some important issues because Mr. Srinivasan was - and still is - the
owner of the Chennai Super Kings and I considered that certain demands
such as trying to hand pick the umpires list in 2010, was a conflict
of interest and not in the interests of the league as a whole. ‘

‘I can only comment on how we approached the format and one of the
strongest elements of the whole IPL concept was to make it innovative
and therefore appealing to the fans, broadcasters and sponsors on an
ongoing basis. But you can only be innovative if you innovate! So we
set out to constantly monitor our product, and analyse how we could
improve and move things along. We weren't trying to re-invent the
wheel with every move, but we did try to keep things fresh. We made
sure we worked with all of our franchisees and partners and I'm sure
the recent issues with Kochi and Sahara haven't helped the preparation
process.’

‘I am in touch with all of the franchise owners. They were and have
always been, good friends and I shall be glued to the TV to see how
their teams fare.’

-MAIL TODAY,8TH APRIL 2012