Lalit Modi Accuses CSK Chairman N Srinivasan of Fixing IPL
In a recent podcast interview with Youtuber Raj Shamani, former IPL chairman Lalit Modi accused CSK Chairman Srinivasan of fixing IPL auctions and umpires between 2008 and 2010.
In a serious allegation, former IPL chairman Lalit Modi has accused CSK Chairman N. Srinivasan of fixing IPL auctions and umpires between 2008 & 2010. In an episode of the YouTube Podcast show 'Figuring Out,’ hosted by Raj Shamani, Lalit claimed that Srinivasan, who was then the BCCI secretary, didn't like IPL and thought that it would fail. Being the member & secretary of BCCI, Srinivasan told Lalit that he was not in favour of IPL & advised him not to go ahead with it. Srinivasan was adamant about it & Lalit said, “Srinivasan wasn’t going to let IPL happen.” However, Lalit went against Srinivasan’s advice, but when IPL became a public and economic hit, Srinivasan got on board with the idea. Lalit claimed that Srinivasan did several unethical things in IPL to make his team, CSK win the matches. Srinivasan often changed umpires at the last minute yet Lalit didn’t doubt him out of trust. But when Lalit realised that he put Chennai umpires in CSK matches. This bothered Lalit a lot as this was ‘fixing.’ When Lalit confronted Srinivasan, he said “I did it!” When Lalit tried to expose umpire fixing to the BCCI, Srinivasan went completely against him. Lalit also accused Srinivasan of fixing IPL auctions. He revealed that Srinivasan had asked him to exclude Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera from CSK's roster so that he could accommodate England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff in 2009. He claimed that Srinivasan sent a message to all the franchises asking them not to bid for Flintoff in the 2009 IPL auction so that CSK could acquire him. Lalit accepted that he knew about this and gave Flintoff to CSK because Srinivasan had said to him, “I want Flintoff.” Lalit’s shocking claim can be backed by CSK’s match-fixing scandal of 2013. In 2013, one of CSK’s top officials and Srinivasan’s son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested for cheating, forgery and fraud. The police investigation revealed that Gurunath was in constant telephonic contact with actor Virender "Vindoo" Dara Singh (son of wrestler & actor Dara Singh). Vindoo Dara Singh was arrested for alleged contact with bookies. He was frequently spotted in the CSK box during IPL matches. Gurunath was later banned for life from any involvement in cricket matches by the RM Lodha committee. The committee also banned CSK & RR teams from IPL for 2 years. Therefore, CSK & RR did not play in IPL 2016 and 2017. Some other claims by Lalit in the podcast:
- Shahrukh Khan initially wanted to acquire MI but settled for KKR because of Reliance Industries.
- “Dawood Ibrahim wanted to kill me because I didn’t allow match-fixing”
- “Yuvraj hit six sixes and asked me for a Porsche”
- “Shashi Tharoor threatened me with an ED raid if I didn’t give a team to his wife”
- “I am not a fugitive, Mumbai police helped me run away from the country”
IPL is the biggest cricket event in India. All the teams successfully assembled their players for IPL 2025 in the mage auction held on 24th & 25th November 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. ISH released a detailed video on it. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/g1M2KPvE1RY
