Lalit’s done no wrong, says Pawar

Sharad Pawar on Thursday came out in support of IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, saying there was nothing wrong in making public names of the stakeholders of the Kochi franchise.

Sharad Pawar on Thursday came out in support of IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, saying there was nothing wrong in making public names of the stakeholders of the Kochi franchise.

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“There in nothing wrong in disclosing the names of the stakeholders to the public,” Pawar, the former BCCI chief and ICC President-elect, said.

He was asked about Modi revealing the names of the Kochi stakeholders.

Pawar was also asked about questions being raised over transparency in IPL and allegations of underworld and betting syndicates pumping huge amounts in securing franchise.

“If the IPL Commissioner or BCCI president is asking any information about any bid, they have got every right to ask for the information because unless and until they collect the correct information, they will not realise who are behind this,” he said.

The former BCCI president also supported Tharoor who helped set up the consortium, which bagged the Kochi franchise, saying the minister's “basic interest” was to bring cricket to centre-stage in Kerala and provide opportunities to players from the state.

“What my observation is that Tharoor's basic interest was that Kochi should get opportunity in the IPL. He was eager to show to people of Kerala that IPL is also a part of Kerala and wanted to encourage new players from Kerala,” Pawar said.