New Delhi:  Not many people would have heard about Lalit Modi a decade ago. But today he is the most talked about person in Indian cricket, not for all the wrong reasons although he has had a fair share of it.
BCCI imposes life ban on Lalit Modi
Modi first came into reckoning when he joined Himachal Pradesh where his stint was limited to a year only as he was removed from the board after questioning its functioning. He moved to Rajasthan Cricket Association where he became its president after winning the elections mired with controversies. This phase marked the beginning of the Modi show which went on for quite some time.
There was no looking back for Modi since then as he eyed for a post in the BCCI. It happened soon after Sharad Pawar, backed by Modi, became the president of BCCI. Modi was rewarded with the vice-president's chair in the cricket board.
Modi set his sights in making BCCI among the richest cricket body in the world. It started in his regime when the BCCI members asked ICC to give India more home games as  the board can make money by selling the broadcasting rights.
The first success came when BCCI sold the ground and title rights for matches in India for a whopping Rs 1.73 billion to World Sports Group. The change was visible and beginning to happen as Modi became more and more powerful with each passing day.
Just to add another feather to his cap, Modi went on to announce the formation of franchise-based cricket in India -- the Indian Premier League. BCCI is said to have earned $1.75 billion from TV rights, $908 million from promotions and $700 million from franchises, let alone the gross income of Rs 645 crore by the governing body in the first edition along with a profit of Rs 51 crore.
The rise of Lalit Modi was steep and so was the sense of arrogance as success can be a double-edged sword. And if you are not grounded, the axe is always round the corner. Modi lost the elections of Rajasthan Cricket Association and made way for Sanjay Dixit as a smooth road suddently hit a pothole.
Modi invited more trouble for himself as he disclosed the ownership details of the newly inducted Kochi franchise and made it public through twitter which resulted in the Central Board of Direct Taxes ordering an investigation into the sale of Kochi franchise.
Modi soon found himself at the receiving end as tax raids were conducted in IPL office in Mumbai and Modi's home and WSG and MSM offices.
Modi was in a spot of bother as BCCI wanted him to resign and later was suspended by the board over allegations of financial misconduct which was followed by a show-cause notice related to the governing of the IPL. Modi left the country citing reasons of death threat and later went on to reveal that Flintoff's auction was rigged and the secret tiebreak rule helped some franchises.
Currently, Modi has been banned by the BCCI for life, a decision which took less than 10 minutes for the board to take as most of the members were in favour of such a verdict. Given the fact that Modi's hands were not clean, which he himself admitted, it goes without saying that the  IPL was his baby.
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on and BCCI is still reaping benefits of the cash-rich IPL, thanks to a man named Lalit Modi.