Lalit Modi - The Genius

There is a lot of anticipation about the second edition of the hugely successful Indian Premier League. Brain-child of the Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Lalit Modi, the IPL is a concept that has truly revoluntionized the manner in which cricket is watched, followed and broadcasted.

Mr Modi has been in for a lot of criticism about his methods, however, I salute this gentleman as one of the best things that happened to Indian cricket. India as a nation has always been the last to adopt the changes in the game, however, once adopted, they have taken the game to new levels.

We never played as much one-day cricket back in the days that I started watching cricket which was after our successful World Championship of Cricket victory in Australia. We never wore coloured clothing for most of our matches and we were one of the last teams to play a T20 international match if my memory serves me correctly.

Even though all of this has been a part of the history of Indian cricket, we are now the country that has the most capped one-day player in Sachin Tendulkar, the most amount of one-day matches played by a country in a year and clearly the most successful domestic T20 club competition.

This has all been possible due to the astute leadership of Mr Modi. The criticism of taking the IPL away from India is tremendous and well-known expat writers and journalists have condemned Mr Modi for what he has done. However, Mr Modi, has kept the sanctity of the tournament by ensuring a second edition.

The prospect of seeing the international stars doing battle with a host of young and upcoming domestic players in a foreign land is a treat for the true cricket lover. It will give the Indian players a taste of foreign conditions, bouncy pitches and prepare them for challenges at the highest level.

Personally I would have loved for the games to be played in England as it would have helped all the players participating in the World T20 get accustomed to the English conditions and the support and atmosphere created at an English venue would have added value to the tournament's calibre. The possibilities of several wash outs and rain-delays are huge and it is best that we are playing the tournament in a place where we will have minimal weather interruptions.

I truly salute you Mr Modi for preparing us for what promises to be another action-packed IPL season. The work that you have done is reaping us rich rewards and the confidence that you bring in staging big events makes all of us Proud Indians