Lalit Modi, the big boss of the BCCI and now the IPL is being hailed in the media for pulling close to $1 Billion out of thin air - the white monster called the IPL. The BCCI, already flush with cash, has pulled a fast one by creating this league. If the BCCI was a company, its revenues would put it in the top-10 companies in India! There is no doubt that the BCCI has been a great financial success in these last few years, and Lalit Modi has been at the top of it all.

Lalit Modi comes from a business background - from the famous Rs 4,000 Crore industrial modi group - and is largely credited with the success of the IPL venture. Results speak for themselves. Since coming to the top in 2005 after the infamous power struggle between Sharad Pawar and the ex-cheif Jagmohan Dalmia, the BCCI’s revenues have gone up 7-fold, and his latest baby - The Indian Premier League - is bound to bring in truckloads of money in the coming years. But is Modi really to be credited with this?

After the great player auction, everyone seems to have forgotten that this IPL was nothing but a knee-jerk reaction to the rival ICL. The ICC didn’t like it that some private organization was luring away players, and asked the BCCI to do something about it. Also, domestic leagues have existed in the country forever - The Dileep Trophy, The Ranji Trophy have existed - to supposedly give young players a platform. But nothing of that sort has happened.

Even the plight of the players leaves a lot to be said. Only the players in India’s ODI side used to make any money - That too after advertising for soaps and shampoos. How come, then, despite the BCCI’s enormous financial reserves, the players were paid like 50s government servants?

Everyone also seems to have forgotten about India’s absolutely miserable performance in the last world cup - the absolute low point of indian cricket - was also under the leadership of Modi. Modi made a bunch of hollow promises after the world cup, and duly forgot about them.

A very good argument can be made that the success of the IPL is largely because of the involvement of the private sector - Allowing private individuals and companies to own and operate teams. These folks will bring in a lot of professional management - something the BCCI simply has no competence to do. Think about it - the big money for players, the upgradation of stadiums, the hiring of coaches, trainers, physiotherapists, the signing up of young players - it’s all going to be now managed by the team managements. What Modi has done, in effect, is taken the BCCI out of the equation and into the backseat, letting the private guys run everything, and being content now with just collecting the money.

Or was this his plan all along? If it was, it seems to have worked brilliantly!