IPL Volcano on Iceland of Excellence As the cricketing world was glued to the TV screens for Twenty20 cricket matches of Indian Premier League (IPL), a few sparks flew off from Lalit Modi’s tweets on holdings of franchisees of teams and a whole volcano erupted engulfing the political establishment and setting house of Lalit Modi himself on fire. First casualty was seemingly unconnected high profile Minister of State for external affairs, Shashi Tharoor. No one expected it to happen so swiftly. But Congress could not stomach another embarrassment from Shashi Tharoor and decided to protect its turf in parliament in the interest of the important bills like finance bill due to be passed during the current session. Shahshi Tharoor may have been all innocent as he claims but under the political quagmire he has to prove that hypothesis. His style and substance may be excellent but has to adapt to Indian political hues & shades. One certainly can not write him off as yet. But it is time of retrospection for him. Sunanda angle could drag him into controversy and cost dearly. But will it? Congress & versions of UPA have shown stomach to digest much bigger scandals and controversies in the past. From Bofors, Quattrochi, fodder scam of Lalu Yadav, Shibu Soren in different avatars including bribes for survival of Narsimha Rao government, 3G spectrum of Raja in UPA I, to Sajjan Kumar & Jagdish Tytler in sikh riots case. So one can at best say that exit of Shashi Tharoor is a tactical one till he is cleared by concerned agencies and he convinces the high command of his ability to switch off the hifi style and fall in line with Indian politicians (read cattle class). Then comes Lalit Modi, the IPL Commissioner, who is on the hit list of BCCI bosses. Modi has been in lime light since his ouster from Rajasthan Cricket Association and current successes of IPL season. IPL brand has become a billion dollar juggernaut capable of crushing anything which comes in its way due to the money power. No doubt Lalit Modi contributed significantly to the building the brand and the business model which has become extremely successful filling the coffers of cricketing establishment as well as the electronic media and advertising agencies. It is this success which has attracted the friends & foes of Lalit Modi alike to the beehive.
With Modi himself tweeting out details of holdings of the franchisees he has to be ready to face the fall out of the lava from IPL volcano which has erupted with finance ministry going full steam to investigate any wrong doings. His detractors will go to any length to pin him down and therefore he is unlikely to attend the meeting called by BCCI on 24th April 2010. But he too would have few aces up his sleeves to nail down people who matter and therefore one can expect a full blown controversy very soon. The names involving political biggies going around are Praful Patel’s daughter, Supriya Sule’s husband and we have to wait for details to come out, the denials notwithstanding. Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister has assured thorough enquiry into all the aspects of funding IPL and any wrong doings. I wonder why the Union sports minister, Dr.M.S. Gill, has no role to play except making a statement that all facts should be disclosed to the nation ( well, we do have a full time senior minister Sharad Pawar to take care of cricket !) With so many names, there could be quid pro quo and the volcano may just be capped. After all cricket is multibillion dollar past time for quite a few powerful people. It can get murkier with betting, insider trading, favors exchanged, hawala transactions etc thrown in for a good measure. While IPL has definitely brought out to the fore the excellence in the game of cricket, the biggest scandal since match fixing scandal of Azharuddin times threatens to spoil the reputation of administrators of cricket in the country. At the root of all this are greed, power, limelight and now glamour world which propel the “game of the gentlemen” into murky depths of financial juggleries bordering to scams. And like many a scam waiting for “law to take its own course”, this too shall pass into history. Meanwhile, the World Cup of Twenty20 is just round the corner which will overtake the hysteria created by Modi & Co. Even if Lalit Modi is forced to resign from IPL by political establishment, he would be always reckoned as the man who changed the world of cricket successfully. Let us hope all the best for the game of cricket. Vijay M.Deshpande Corporate Advisor, Strategic Management Initiative
Pune April 23, 2010 Scroll down for my other blogs Or visit www.strami.com