The Board Games

BY Dileep Premachandran

BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan

When Shashank Manohar addressed the media after the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) annual general meeting, there was no mistaking the near-glee in his voice. “(Lalit) Modi is not part of the BCCI any more,” he said. “Now he cannot say that he is the suspended IPL chairman.”

In early April, Modi was BCCI vice-president and the man in charge of both the IPL and the Champions League. Others like Manohar held bigger posts, but worldwide the perception was of Modi being the driving force behind Indian cricket. He was the one with the sharp suits, the bombastic soundbites and the boundless ambition, unafraid to ride roughshod over anyone who crossed his path. Within a month though, it had all unravelled for the man who even had his own television commercial at one stage. A series of tweets about the new IPL franchise in Kochi ruffled feathers both within the board and in the corridors of political power. Even before the tournament was over, the empire struck back and suspended him.

Five months on, every effort has been made to airbrush Modi out of Indian cricket history. Pretty much every deal he signed has been scrutinised, cases have been filed against him for various financial irregularities and the man himself is in Europe somewhere while his lawyers fight flames fanned every other day. The supporters and hangers-on who once shadowed him have slowly drifted away, and the new dispensation dominated by N Srinivasan, the board secretary, has quickly consolidated power in trusted hands. The only experienced hand to stand by Modi has been Inderjit Singh Bindra, now an adviser to the International Cricket Council. “I have never believed than anyone can be marginalised forever,” he said on the eve of the Mohali Test. “Everyone is bound to make a comeback.” Back in the day, Bindra was a close associate of Jagmohan Dalmiya. But in Indian cricket, friendships and associations are as transient as the seasons. Analyse the behaviour of the main protagonists and you’ll find it hard to figure out who are allies and who are enemies.

Srinivasan, who has emerged as the power centre after Modi's ouster, was promoted to the top job in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association early in the millennium because he was a protege of AC Muthiah. But once Muthiah lost the BCCI presidency and Dalmiya came back from the ICC, Srinivasan quickly left his mentor behind. By the time Dalmiya himself was marginalised in 2005, Srinivasan was part of a coterie that had gathered under the Sharad Pawar umbrella. Back then, one of his closest associates was a certain Lalit Kumar Modi. Now though, Modi is Cricket Enemy No.1 and Dalmiya has been allowed a route back from the wilderness. The board has dropped the civil suit it filed against him, related to embezzlement of funds from the 1996 World Cup, and also the expulsion notice that was sent to him four years ago.

“What we have done is that we have withdrawn the civil suit filed against Dalmiya because it was based on an entry in the account books,” said Manohar recently. “The matter is going on for the last three years and the Board is spending money, time and energy for that litigation, so we asked for opinions from two experts. One is a retired Supreme Court judge Manoj Mukherjee and the other is Soli Sorabjee, and both of them opined that there is very little chance of the board succeeding in this suit.” Even as Modi lies low, it’s Muthiah, now Srinivasan’s sworn enemy, that has taken up cudgels on behalf of the sidelined. After the BCCI changed its own rules to allow Srinivasan to own an IPL team, Muthiah went to court, and recently the Supreme Court appeared to vindicate his stand when it said: “You introduce an amendment where the IPL will be an exception. You are a prominent industrialist holding a key position in the board and have a stake in the bidding. In order to avoid suspicion and be above board, you should have got your membership suspended.”

With allegiances switched frequently and so much money at stake, the board games won’t end any time soon. Modi may seem like yesterday’s man today, but given Dalmiya’s coming in from the cold, perhaps we should wait before we draw the line under his bigger-better-more era.

Premachandran is Associate Editor, Cricinfo