The Indian Premier League has evolved from a concept to one of India’s biggest sporting powers. Lalit Modi, the former IPL commissioner, built the league from the ground up and controversies were his biggest tool in getting people to hype up the league without having to spend a penny. “You can’t buy breaking news,” Lalit chuckled. The idea was to get the nation talking about the league and as long as the media was writing about the IPL, good or bad, the job was getting done.
As 8 sports journalists sat in the terrace of Modi’s 3 storey mansion at Belgrave Square in London, it felt like a rare press conference, one that Modi hasn’t attended in ages. From the inception of the IPL, spending 150 million dollars to generate 5 million in revenue, from his lavish lifestyle to the allegations that forced him into exile, Modi answered every question with the same candidness.
While it was interesting to know everything that went into making IPL what it is today, a certain curiosity sparked, one to know about the things that Modi hadn’t planned, the uncertainties and the unexpected.
“Throughout the evolution of the IPL, what were some of the most unexpected changes for you?” I asked
Lalit rubbed his hands as he looked for an answer “that’s a good question, what are the unexpected changes?” He took a minute to gather his thoughts and finally answered with a grin “That people would come up to me and recognise me for the IPL.”
He recited the story of the many times he’s been recognised throughout the world and the impact that the league has left globally.
“The unexpected change is how global the league has become. When anyone talks about India, the only thing they talk about is the IPL. Any part of the world I go, I get stopped, Mykonos, Rome, every part of the world. Indians come up to me and tell me ‘you have given us something to be proud of, you’ve brought hope in our lives’. To me that is the biggest achievement one could have ever dreamt about and that money cannot buy. My grandfather built an empire, nobody talks about that. Tata built an empire, nobody talks about that.”
Lalit went on to relay the story of how a group of American-Indians stopped him in the streets of Mykonos and told him that even though they’ve only visited India a handful of times in their lives, collectively, they are obsessed with the IPL. The experience shocked Lalit, he never expected IPL to have a reach this global.
“I went to my grandson’s school in Winchester, all his friends are cricket fans but somehow they all recognise me. I never thought that would happen. I haven’t been associated with the game for 15 years. You are banned from saying my name in the stadium, commentators can’t say my name on air, yet a completely new generation of kids recognise me. And that is a dynamic I did not expect.”
As the conversation started to wind down along with the sun on the sunlit terrace in Belgrave Square, it became clear that Lalit is both revered and exiled, recognised and erased. The IPL may have outgrown him, but in ways that he never expected, it still carries his signature in the hearts of fans around the world.