Sunil Walson, the 1983 World Cupper, is not the only former international cricketer to be pulled up during the IPL’s third edition.
Narendra Hirwani, a national selector who still holds the world record of taking the most number of wickets (16) in his debut Test match, was possibly the recipient of IPL chairman Lalit Modi’s ire during Mumbai Indians’ game against Chennai Super Kings at the Brabourne Stadium on March 25.
While Walson was reportedly abused by IPL Chief Operating Officer Sundar Raman in Delhi last week, a source disclosed to HT: “Hirwani was unceremoniously asked to leave the President’s Box by Modi in the middle of the Chennai-Mumbai match.”
A BCCI insider added that the matter was reported to the top officials and will “surely be discussed in the next working committee meeting”.
However, Modi denied having asked Hirwani to leave the President’s Box. “Everybody in the President’s Box needs to have tickets. The tickets are checked all the time. We don’t allow accreditations in my area,” Modi told HT. “And apparently Hirwani didn’t have a ticket, he had an accreditation. So when I heard the voices, I turned around, he said I am Narendra Hirwani. I said fine, you sit, relax. And that was it. The matter was over.”
Modi said the misunderstanding occurred as the person checking the tickets didn’t recognise Hirwani. “There are a lot of young people working, so they don’t recognise everyone. And we have to be careful while allocating the President’s Box tickets because those are the only 50 tickets that we get at the stadium on a match day.”
{{/usCountry}}Modi said the misunderstanding occurred as the person checking the tickets didn’t recognise Hirwani. “There are a lot of young people working, so they don’t recognise everyone. And we have to be careful while allocating the President’s Box tickets because those are the only 50 tickets that we get at the stadium on a match day.”
{{/usCountry}}Hirwani opted to remain silent — not responding to several attempts to reach him on his phone.