Lalit Modi: PCB Brought Politics Into Cricket. The Game Is Paying For It.
Lalit Modi did not mince it. The man who built the IPL has watched the India-Pakistan cricket relationship collapse in real time — and he is pointing the finger squarely at the PCB.
“Cricket was created to be decided on the field, not in boardrooms or through boycotts,” Modi said. “When politics enters sport, the game loses.”
And it has. Pakistan threatened to boycott the T20 World Cup fixture against India after Bangladesh’s exclusion from the tournament — itself triggered by the BCCI’s removal of Mustafizur Rahman from KKR. PCB eventually backed down. But the damage was done.
Modi’s conclusion was sharp: the IPL wins every time cricket gets political. Nobody else does. Least of all the fans.