Had it not been for Sharad Pawar, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 2005-2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL), a T20 tournament, would not have materialised, says Lalit Modi, who started it all, in a tribute to the Maratha leader who turns 81 on December 12.“No other BCCI president would have supported me. If not for him, the great revolution of IPL would never have happened,” Lalit Modi tells National Herald in a rare interview from London. “Saheb gave me a free hand; he said ‘here is your chance, go make it happen’.”Lalit Modi was appointed chairman and commissioner of the IPL Governing Council. The tournament went on to become a major cricket competition and was compared with the likes of National Football League, the Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the Premier League.“I promised him that the best [players] would play and the benefit for the game in India would be immense. That was enough for him to trust me and let me build what is today the envy of other sports leagues,” recalls Modi.Apart from Pawar, a former defence and agriculture minister of India, nobody in the BCCI was sure of the IPL’s success, he recalls. “If Pawar Saheb believes in you, he’ll back you to the hilt. He believed in me and he believed in the concept. He immedia-tely saw potential in it; he felt that it would be beneficial for Indian cricket,” says Modi. Paying his tribute to the veteran politician, Modi gushes, “Pawar Saab can think ahead, years ahead instead of shortterm gains. He realises the potential of an idea and then backs it.”
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