Board top brass skips awards night

The IPL Awards Night was held at a Mumbai hotel on Friday evening with several senior BCCI officials missing, in another sign of the deepening rift between IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and his colleagues in the BCCI. There were unconfirmed reports that Modi had requested a postponement of Monday's IPL governing council meeting but the BCCI did not appear inclined to entertain any such request.

The awards ceremony went ahead in the absence of BCCI president Shashank Manohar, secretary N Srinivasan and IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah. Those who attended included team owners Vijay Mallya (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab), Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra (Rajasthan Royals), Gayatri Reddy (Deccan Chargers) and Jai Mehta (Kolkata Knight Riders). Sunil Gavaskar, a member of the IPL Governing Council, attended, though many of his colleagues did not.

At the awards Modi thanked the BCCI, among others, for making his "17-year-old dream" come true. "I thank the BCCI, the franchises, the players, the sponsors and most of all the millions of fans for helping create the most successful cricket league in the world, for making the IPL what it is today."

Shah indicated that the BCCI would take a hard line with Modi. "The IPL is far bigger than any one individual," he told BBC Sport. "Everyone has to fall in line with the rules of the institution. The meeting is on, whether Mr Modi is there or not. We need to draw a line under this matter."

A PTI story quoted sources as saying Modi had, for the second time in three days, sought a postponement of Monday's meeting, citing his hectic schedule of the past few weeks leading up to Sunday night's tournament final. The meeting was called to address the wide range of allegations of financial impropriety against the league and its commissioner and it is widely speculated that Modi will be ousted from his post at the meeting.

"I need to prepare the documents to support my replies to all the questions," the report quoted Modi as saying in a mail to the BCCI. "I have worked for you (BCCI) for five long years without taking any money, consider giving me just five days for the documents."

Modi had made a similar request on April 21, which was firmly turned down by BCCI president Shashank Manohar. A BCCI source told Cricinfo there would be no change in that stand.

There were also reports - which Modi has denied - that he was contemplating taking the BCCI to court over the legality of the meeting.

If Modi skips the meeting, the governing council meeting is expected to pass a resolution to remove him from the post of IPL commissioner and chairman. He had insisted through the week that he would not resign in the wake of the controversy tarnishing the IPL.

The IPL jury awards:

Best Debut Performance - Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians), Best Batsman - Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians), Best Bowler - Pragyan Ojha (Deccan Chargers), Best Dramatic Performance - Harbhajan Singh (Mumbai Indians), Most Consistent Performer - Jacques Kallis (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Best Breakthrough Performance 2008 - Brendon McCullum (Kolkata Knight Riders), Best Breakthrough Performance 2009 - Anil Kumble (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Best Fielder - AB de Villiers (Delhi Daredevils), Best Ground - Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, Best Stadium Experience - DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.