Even as the Indian Premier League suffered a new controversy, Lalit Modi put up a brave front, saying the cash-rich venture will overcome the latest setback.
MUMBAI: Even as the Indian Premier League suffered a new controversy, Lalit Modi put up a brave front, saying the cash-rich venture will overcome the latest setback. The day after the Mohd Asif saga surfaced, DNA tried to do some blunt-talking with the IPL chairman. Excerpts...
The IPL has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately...
When there is a venture of such magnitude, there are bound to be some controversies. Our job is to address and solve them in the best possible way. We have addressed the ‘slapgate’ issue most professionally. We did not compromise with our stand when Shoaib Akhtar was banned. The same way we will address the latest controversy.
But why was the report not made public immediately?
Before we tried to make it public, it got leaked. We received the report only two days back and we were trying to ascertain the candidate.
Why didn’t WADA make thereport public? Is it not mandatory for WADA to make every positive result public? A perception has been created that if there was no leak the issue may not have been known at all?
That is not true. WADA doesn’t make reports public. It just recommends to the concerned organisation — in this case IPL — which has to act upon the report. We were trying to match the report with the data collected by IDTM (the Swiss agency which collected the samples) to identify the player. It also took time to check if that particular player applied for and was granted a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for that particular drug. So this process was bound to consume time.
So what next for Mohd Asif?
There is a set process for dope failures. The law will take its own course.
You were widely quoted in the media that you will set things right in the next edition of the IPL? What do you mean by that?
I never said that. What I’ve said was we’ll take every possible step to ensure smooth conduct of the tournament and guard it from controversies.
So you say the 2nd edition of the IPL will be controversy-free?
I don’t say that either. Controversies are bound to happen when such a large tournament is taking place. We’ll address every issue in the most professional way.
Finally, the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit chief Sir Paul Condon has reportedly made remarks that the IPL is a potential hub for match-fixing. Your comments
That is untrue. I was at that meeting in Dubai when Condon gave a presentation. He had made a very general statement that match-fixing danger is there for every match. He had mentioned that even Test matches can be fixed. So it’s not that the ACU and its chairman felt that match-fixing danger is there only in the IPL.
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