Astute, ruthlessly ambitious, and the one who aimed for the sky, Lalit Modi's eventful stint in Indian cricket firmament, with its innumerable ups and downs, truly defines the age-old saying 'life is a roller-coaster'.
If he is
credited with changing the face of world cricket by conceiving the Indian
Premier League, the former IPL commissioner also found himself at the centre of
many a controversies over the past three years.
The
49-year-old cricket administrator's life today took another turn, for the
worse, as he was slapped with a life ban by the BCCI after its disciplinary
committee found him guilty on eight charges of "indiscipline and
misconduct".
The exit has
been as dramatic as his entry into the Indian cricket fraternity.
It would not
be an exaggeration to say that Modi's IPL consolidated BCCI's position as the
financial superpower in world cricket. While the purists whined, it prompted
the ICC to look for ways to bring innovations in the traditional forms
-- Tests and ODIs.
If they were
not enough, the multi-million-dollar franchise-based domestic league, which
Modi executed for the first time in 2008, also helped cricket establish some
sort of a foothold on the global sporting map, so dominated by football and
tennis.
But what
followed was a string of controversial episodes that brought the high-flying
administrator down to earth.
Modi's decline
started after the 2010 IPL bidding which saw the creation of two new teams --
Pune and Kochi. Modi revealed the ownership details of the Kochi franchise on
twitter leading to the resignation of the then Minister of State for foreign
affairs Shashi Tharoor.
Modi's act
allegedly breached the confidentiality agreements between the Board and the IPL
franchises.
Modi was
suspended as chairman and Commissioner of the IPL in April 2010. A suspension
notice and a 34-page letter stating 22 charges of impropriety were served via
email to Modi.
He claimed
innocence all through, defending himself mostly on twitter and television
channels but never appeared in person to face the BCCI committee.
Modi was
suspended under Rule 32(iv) of the Board's constitution on April 25, 2010,
seconds after the IPL final held in Mumbai. The Board then slapped three show
cause notices on him. He replied to all of them.
The BCCI
disciplinary committee, comprising Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia,
submitted a 134-page report in July in which it had found Modi guilty on eight
charges, including financial irregularities, indiscipline and "actions
detrimental to the interest of the BCCI".
