IPL Commissioner post to be dissolved?

Zeecric Bureau Mumbai: Cricket czar Lalit Modi may be finally on his way out as reports claimed Tuesday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) bosses want him out at any cost for his alleged mismanagement of the billion dollar Twenty20 Indian Premier League. Sources claim that the post of IPL Commissioner may be dissolved altogether and a three-member committee will be constructed to look after the affairs of the Indian Premier League and to avoid concentrating powers to any one particular being. The committee would comprise of an ex-player, a BCCI official and a marketing official. According to sources, the BCCI President will act as an interim IPL chief till the time a new arrangement is being made. Meanwhile, BCCI prez Shashank Manohar met Sharad Pawar in the national capital on Tuesday to convince him on BCCI’s stand on Modi and the future of the IPL. Manohar’s visit comes amid reports that the top brass of BCCI are planning to remove controversial Modi from the post of IPL Commissioner and Chairman. Pawar had also met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram apart from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier in the day to sort out the issue.Indications that Modi is fast losing ground came after reports claimed that his biggest supporter Sharad Pawar had asked him to step down in view of the growing clamour for his head. Pawar had changed his stand on supporting Modi late last evening saying that there was nothing much he could do about the issue as most of the members were already against him and that he was into a ‘difficult situation’. When asked to comment on the controversy on Tuesday morning, Pawar completely washed his hands off the entire fiasco saying that he has ‘nothing to do with IPL’ and he was not even a part of the IPL working committee. Modi returned to Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to reach New Delhi later in the day. As per reports, he is expected to resign after the final match of IPL 3 on April 25, as per sources. However, reports earlier claimed that he might be asked to resign on Tuesday itself.The Cricket Board rescheduled its Working Committee meeting from April 24 to May 2 as it wants the IPL Governing Council – which is expected to meet here on April 26, a day after the IPL final – to first discuss the issue of Modi’s resignation. The BCCI top officials are said to be extremely unhappy with Modi after he triggered the controversy by tweeting the Kochi franchise’s stakeholding pattern, which also brought the cricket board under the Income Tax department’s scanner. Modi himself is under fire for allegedly helping his family and friends buy stakes in various IPL teams. It is understood that the BCCI suspects financial flaws in the IMG contract on part of Modi and are expected to further probe into the matter. The IPL had signed a contract with sports marketing and production company IMG in 2009, promising a commission equivalent to 10% of the annual revenues generated by IPL in the second season of the extravagant league. The contract was later terminated as it was believed the agency was overcharging for its services. It will be very tough for Modi to win over so many state associations because most cricket administrators are upset at the high level of scrutiny Modi has caused to bring upon the activities of BCCI and associated bodies.