Gavaskar turns 61 on Saturday
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali
Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, my childhood cricket hero, turned 61 on Saturday. As usual, I have sent him a mail on his birthday, and am awaiting his reply. Much like his habit of replying to his fan mail in his own hand writing, he always replies e-mail messages.
Gavaskar mesmerised millions of cricket fans around the world, including me, during his long and successful international career. A graduate from St Xavier's College, Mumbai, and Bombay University, the master opening batsman tallied 10,122 runs in 125 Tests and 3,092 runs in 108 One-day Internationals.
Saturday, 10 July 2010
The inside story of Lalit Modi’s defence
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali
MUCH has been written and said about the three show cause notices that the BCCI sent to Lalit Modi and the extraordinarily long replies of the suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman. But there are still many interesting aspects of the embattled official’s replies — Hotel Maurya Sheraton’s Bukhara restaurant is thrown in for good measure — that have still not entered the public domain. Here they are. Read on …
One of the charges against Modi is that he tried to launch a “mirror image” of the IPL in the United Kingdom and that this plan was hatched in a secret meeting with representatives of the English counties and IMG. While defending himself in his reply, Modi says that it was a casual lunch and not a sinister meeting or a diabolical plot.
“I was informed by the IMG that some county representatives were in India and they were eager to meet me. I had very little time then since IPL Season-III was already underway. However, as they continued to request IMG, I agreed to briefly meet them,” he writes.
“Originally, it was decided that I would meet them on 30th March, 2010, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai. I, however, had to unfortunately cancel the meeting. The county representatives, via IMG, requested me to somehow to squeeze them for a brief meeting as they were leaving the same night. On 31st March, I had planned to meet some friends for lunch at Bukhara and this was the only time I had. So, out of courtesy, I asked them to join me for lunch with my friends and they agreed,” he says.
The BCCI has alleged that Modi made a presentation to the guests as part of his “plot”. Modi refutes this. “Anyone who is familiar with the Bukhara restaurant will know that it is hardly the place where a formal business meeting involving ‘presentations’ can be held. The lunch was [a] casual and informal affair with friends in which the county representatives and IMG officials joined in. There was no agenda for this meeting nor did I have any preconceived ideas on the lines on which this meeting would proceed,” he explains.
CLARIFYING his patriotism further, Modi discloses that he virtually thwarted the plans of organising an Arab league on the lines of the IPL. “In fact, when one of the Rajasthan Royals shareholders held a meeting with Sheikh Nahayan regarding a proposed Arab League, I severely reprimanded him,” he claims. “I also sent a mail to the promoters of Rajasthan Royals with a copy marked to BCCI-IPL lawyer John Loffhagen and Andrew Wildblood of IMG, saying that if the said shareholder directly or indirectly associates with any form of unauthorised cricket we would have to take action against him.”
Meanwhile, varying speculative figures have appeared in the media about the number of pages in the show cause notices and Modi’s replies.
For the first time, here are the authentic figures, based on copies of all the notices and the replies. The first notice, which was delivered on April 26, was 34 pages long and, interestingly, there was no date mentioned on it. The second one, dated May 6, was Five pages long while the third one was of eight pages and was sent on May 31.
Modi’s replies have evoked much interest among the media, especially the pictures of huge cartons containing annexures which were delivered to the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. For the record, the first reply actually was just 156 pages, besides the annexures, while the second and third replies were 24 and 51 pages long respectively. There could be many, many more exchanges as some of the unrelenting top officials of the BCCI and Modi continue to sling mud on each other in the most public spat in the board’s 78-year history.
(This story first appeared in Third Umpire column, Mail Today on July 10, 2010)
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali
MUCH has been written and said about the three show cause notices that the BCCI sent to Lalit Modi and the extraordinarily long replies of the suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman. But there are still many interesting aspects of the embattled official’s replies — Hotel Maurya Sheraton’s Bukhara restaurant is thrown in for good measure — that have still not entered the public domain. Here they are. Read on …
One of the charges against Modi is that he tried to launch a “mirror image” of the IPL in the United Kingdom and that this plan was hatched in a secret meeting with representatives of the English counties and IMG. While defending himself in his reply, Modi says that it was a casual lunch and not a sinister meeting or a diabolical plot.
“I was informed by the IMG that some county representatives were in India and they were eager to meet me. I had very little time then since IPL Season-III was already underway. However, as they continued to request IMG, I agreed to briefly meet them,” he writes.
“Originally, it was decided that I would meet them on 30th March, 2010, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai. I, however, had to unfortunately cancel the meeting. The county representatives, via IMG, requested me to somehow to squeeze them for a brief meeting as they were leaving the same night. On 31st March, I had planned to meet some friends for lunch at Bukhara and this was the only time I had. So, out of courtesy, I asked them to join me for lunch with my friends and they agreed,” he says.
The BCCI has alleged that Modi made a presentation to the guests as part of his “plot”. Modi refutes this. “Anyone who is familiar with the Bukhara restaurant will know that it is hardly the place where a formal business meeting involving ‘presentations’ can be held. The lunch was [a] casual and informal affair with friends in which the county representatives and IMG officials joined in. There was no agenda for this meeting nor did I have any preconceived ideas on the lines on which this meeting would proceed,” he explains.
CLARIFYING his patriotism further, Modi discloses that he virtually thwarted the plans of organising an Arab league on the lines of the IPL. “In fact, when one of the Rajasthan Royals shareholders held a meeting with Sheikh Nahayan regarding a proposed Arab League, I severely reprimanded him,” he claims. “I also sent a mail to the promoters of Rajasthan Royals with a copy marked to BCCI-IPL lawyer John Loffhagen and Andrew Wildblood of IMG, saying that if the said shareholder directly or indirectly associates with any form of unauthorised cricket we would have to take action against him.”
Meanwhile, varying speculative figures have appeared in the media about the number of pages in the show cause notices and Modi’s replies.
For the first time, here are the authentic figures, based on copies of all the notices and the replies. The first notice, which was delivered on April 26, was 34 pages long and, interestingly, there was no date mentioned on it. The second one, dated May 6, was Five pages long while the third one was of eight pages and was sent on May 31.
Modi’s replies have evoked much interest among the media, especially the pictures of huge cartons containing annexures which were delivered to the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. For the record, the first reply actually was just 156 pages, besides the annexures, while the second and third replies were 24 and 51 pages long respectively. There could be many, many more exchanges as some of the unrelenting top officials of the BCCI and Modi continue to sling mud on each other in the most public spat in the board’s 78-year history.
(This story first appeared in Third Umpire column, Mail Today on July 10, 2010)
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