In an explosive interview, Lalit Modi revealed about fixing in India's premier T20 tournament, where the former league commissioner accused Chennai Super Kings (CSK) owner N Srinivasan of auction manipulation. Speaking with Raj Shamani, Modi stated that the former BCCI President rigged the IPL Auction to acquire former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, telling other franchises not to bid for the cricketer. IPL Auction 2025: Shah Rukh Khan's First Choice Was Mumbai Indians and Not KKR, Reveals Ex-Commissioner Lalit Modi.

"Pick out everything—auction rigging. I gave Flintoff to Srinivasan. No doubts about it; every team knew about it. Srinivasan wasn’t going to let the IPL happen. He was a thorn in our Board. Yes, we told everybody not to pick ‘Flintoff.’ Yes, that I did—because Srinivasan said he wanted it," Lalit Modi mentioned.

Lalit Modi's Explosive Revelation

Modi further revealed that Srinivasan initially doubted if IPL would be successful, and soon went against the former,  accusing him of umpire fixing. The IPL founder stated how Srinivasan would put a Chennai-based umpire in a CSK match, which could be termed indirect fixing.  IPL 2025 Mega Auction: Complete Squads of All Teams After the End of Bidding Extravaganza.

"When everybody started going back-to-back, he was also a member of the board. He was a big adversary of mine. I went up against him, and he did many things. Umpire fixing—he accused me of it, and I accused him right back. He would change the umpire. At first, I didn’t think much about it. But when I realized he was putting a Chennai umpire on a Chennai game, it became an issue for me. That’s called indirect fixing. When I started exposing those things, he went totally against me", Modi claimed.

Interestingly, CSK went on to win as many as five IPL titles, a joint record they share with Mumbai Indians.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 27, 2024 12:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).