Full name Lalit Kumar Modi

Born November 29, 1963, Delhi, India

Current age 45 years 218 days

Sharp, brash, ruthlessly ambitious, and admired and reviled in equal measure, Lalit Modi will be known as the man who changed the landscape of cricket. The Indian Premier League, the multi-million-dollar, football-style, franchise-based domestic league, which Modi conceived and executed with spectacular success, has hurtled cricket to the fast lane, forcing the traditionalists to follow suit even while squirming. The tournament, first held in 2008, consolidated India's position as cricket's economic powerhouse, and consequently, its premier agenda-setter.

Modi's rise to the top rung of Indian cricket has been as fast as it has been stunning. Scion of a leading Indian business family, he began his career as an adversary of the Indian cricket board in the early 90s when he was trying to build a business out of distributing sports pay channels. He knew even then that live sports was one of the few things the Indian television consumer would pay for but soon realised the best way to beat the system was to join it. However, it was not until 2005, when he became the youngest vice-president of the BCCI, that he came into prominence. He soon became the driving force of the board's commercial activities and pushed its revenues over the US$1 billion mark. His abrasive and confrontational approach -­ among other things, he accused the ICC of harbouring a neo-colonial bias -­ didn't win him many friends in international cricket but both he and his adversaries are acutely aware of this: where there is money, there is muscle. In March 2009 he suffered his first major embarrassment when he was defeated in the election for president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association.
Cricinfo Staff March 2009

Jun 14, 2009

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi at Lord's

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Jun 14, 2009

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi watches the game

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May 24, 2009

Anil Kumble, Lalit Modi, Adam Gilchrist and other officials at a press conference

© ESPN

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