Former India cricket captain and a member of the IPL Governing Council M A K Pataudi today admitted that the council was a complete failure, otherwise the ongoing controversy surrounding the Twenty20 league could have been avoided.
He was also of the view that if Lalit Modi keeps himself away from the April 26 Governing Council meeting, his ouster from the IPL Commissioner-cum-Chairman's post was almost certain.
“It (the Governing Council) has been a failure certainly because we should have been more aware of what is happening.
We should have been doing the questioning but we didn't because everything seemed OK. We were all carried away by how well he (Modi) was doing,” Pataudi said.
“If Mr Modi doesn't come for the meeting, I suspect the BCCI will take a very strict view of this. But Lalit is also playing very hard, I am not sure what he is upto.
“Unless Modi comes and says in the meeting that he has been working 20 hours a day for the last six weeks and need 3-4 days time to prepare his answer, his outser is certain.
But if he does that, the Board may give him time,” he said.
Pataudi, however, credited Modi for the IPL's success but said there were some factions within the Governing Council who were not happy with the IPL chief's functioning.
“I feel the chap (Modi) is telling the truth in the sense that he has been working very hard. He is actually behind all the success of IPL so far. So if he wants 3-4 days, I think he should be given the time,” he said.
“But there were some people who were against Lalit's style of working. I have no objection to it personally but there was already an anti-Modi movement getting stronger everyday. And I think the Governing Council was getting aware that everything was not right,” Pataudi told a TV news channel.
Pataudi said the IPL Governing Council was also at fault for not meeting frequently.
“That (not meeting frequently) was one of the reasons but that's hardly an excuse,” he said.
Asked whether he personally pushed for frequent meetings of Governing Council members, Pataudi said, “No, I didn't push for more meetings. I felt the job he (Modi) was doing was fair and good...but it is his style of functioning which upset many in BCCI”.
“I saw the IPL being very popular. As long as the product looked good to me, I was happy the way it was going. The dirt which is being attached to it now is very sad and disturbing.
These dirt, filths and nonsense has to be taken out and has to be cleaned up properly.” With Modi's ouster only a matter of time, the former India batsman said he was in favour of a group of people running IPL and not an individual.
“IPL is extremely popular no doubt and it is largely because of Modi's efforts. But if Modi is out, I feel the BCCI now must look for two-three people to run the league unless you are a Modi and eager to spent 20 hours a day,” Pataudi said.
Asked whether he is in favour of team owners' involvement in running the league as suggested by Deccan Chargers Vice President (Operations) Venkat Reddy, he said, “I don't want onwers involved at all because they are not part of BCCI.” He also said that IPL would be able to withstand the present crisis.
“The product is good and the game has evolved over 100 years and has gone past many crisis and the match fixing scandal was one of them. Now its time for another crisis which it (cricket) needs to go through,” Pataudi stated.
Pataudi also welcomed an independent inquiry committee, like the one involved in Satyam scandal, to look into the entire episode.
“I feel a kind of committee like Satyam should be formed.
It may not be a bad idea even though you can't compare Satyam with BCCI,” he said.
“BCCI now needs little bit of introspection with lot of advice from independent people,” he added.
