Cricket Betting: Game changer should rethink night vision

IPL Betting / Paul Moon / 07 March 2010 / Leave a Comment

IPL Commisioner Lalit Kumar Modi has plans for Test cricket

"It's hard to argue with Modi's logic and innovation but his call for Test cricket to be played at night is both frightening and a mistake."

Does the name Lalit Kumar Modi mean anything to you? It should do, says Paul Moon, as he introduces the man who took the BCCI by storm and revolutionised one day cricket. Now he's setting his sights on the Test format...

Lalit Kumar Modi is the most extraordinary character and the most influential person in cricket since Kerry Packer. His colourful past pales into insignificance when you consider his most recent activities.

Significantly, he gained rich mercantile experience at Philip Morris, the tobacco giants, then Estée Lauder before working on initiatives in the entertainment industry, including a joint venture with Disney and ESPN. Nowadays, his enormous family wealth and commercial genius (he is President and Managing Director of Modi Enterprises) allows him free rein to pursue other projects. He is the Chairman and Commissioner of the IPL, Chairman of the Champions League and Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Vice President of the Punjab Cricket Association.

In India he put forward proposals for limited over and television-friendly cricket but was turned down by the BCCI. He decided to influence their decisions from the inside so surreptitiously gained a place on the board. In 2005 Modi figured in a power struggle that ousted former Indian cricket supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya. He was then appointed Vice-President of the BCCI and, after increasing revenue between 2005 and 2008 to close to a billion pounds, he was the logical choice to front the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Though Twenty20 was originally introduced in the UK for inter-county competition it really took off as a credible format in 2008 when Modi launched the IPL. With a single brushstroke he changed the landscape of cricket forever. Though he divides opinion, most of his aims are admirable. He wants cricket to be available to the widest possible audience and the IPL to become the dominant sporting league in the world. It's hard to argue with his logic and innovation but his latest call for Test cricket to be played at night is both frightening and a mistake.

One cannot help but be impressed with his strength of character. He answers questions directly and interference from individuals or associations is given short thrift. He is a workaholic with a ravenous appetite for change. Here lies the danger - the packaging must not become more important than the content. He openly admits to not watching a whole cricket match in years and this fast forward mentality threatens the essence of the game.

Traditionalists are uncomfortable with his driving force. Those from the old school find him objectionable and dislike his favourite words 'product, value and consumers'. There are those within the BCCI who are calling for his wings to be clipped. Inadvertently Modi has become saint, sinner and symptom of a problem. His claims that broadcasting determines whether Test cricket survives and that Twenty20 will swallow the longer format could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It really is a catch-22 situation.

Despite personal worries, when he eventually outgrows the BCCI, the stuffy ICC should move quickly to secure his services and give him the room he needs to operate (but with the rules ring-fenced). Apart from commercial and marketing skills his sense of purpose and fresh prospectus could lift this antiquated office into the modern age. Of course, one doubts this happening - it may well be the cricket equivalent of Brian Clough being overlooked for the England football manager's job.

Setting aside security fears, we look forward to IPL3, especially after ITV secured the rights to screen it. ITV4 will show 59 live games over the 45-day tournament that begins Friday 12 March.

Latest Indian Premier League 3 odds: Delhi Daredevils [5.6] Chennai Super Kings [6.6] Deccan Chargers [6.6] Bangalore Royal Challengers [7.6] Mumbai Indians [7.6] Kings XI Punjab [9] Kolkata Knight Riders [9] Rajasthan Royals [10.5].