Fix in IPL? Lalit Modi says they are “fixing cricket” but not sure about IPL

Lalit Modi (Image credit: Wisden Cricket) NEW DELHI: Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has maintained that match-fixing continues to exist in cricket, even as he stopped short of making any allegations against the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying the tournament has become too lucrative for players to risk their careers.Modi, who has lived primarily in London since leaving India in May 2010, spoke on a number of topics during Wisden Cricket’s The Scoop podcast, including corruption and match-fixing in cricket.Asked if there was still a fix in the IPL, Modi said corruption in the sport had evolved and was becoming more sophisticated.“They fix themselves in cricket. It’s come to a very sophisticated level. I don’t know if it’s in the IPL. I don’t think so, but I don’t know. And I can’t tell you because I really don’t know. But I’m sure it’s everywhere; every sport has its problems. And I can’t give you a yes-or-no answer.” cut out this part because otherwise people will take it the wrong way because I am telling you very clearly: I don’t know,” Modi said.However, the former IPL boss said that he does not believe that fixing is prevalent in the IPL because of the huge sums of money involved in the tournament.“I don’t think it would happen in IPL because the money has become so big. It is so big that there is no reason for the players to fix because they have too much to lose,” he added.Modi instead pointed to smaller domestic and regional leagues as more vulnerable to corruption due to a lack of governance and oversight.“But I can tell you for sure that in a lot of the minor leagues, you’re going to see games being rigged. Not in the major leagues, but in the minor leagues, and especially the bachha leagues, it’s all about fixing. You’re going to see so many entrepreneurs starting these little intercity leagues, interregional leagues, interstate leagues. There’s no corporate governance either. There’s no corporate governance.” about satta baazi,” Modi said.“And if you look at the satta baazi market today, it’s huge. If you’re betting 40,000 crore rupees per day – not per season, per day – and you have 100 matches, it’s just a $40 billion cricket industry, a number that nobody talks about. It’s huge and something that huge tends to have problems,” he said.“Cricket lends itself to ball-by-ball betting, with odds changing every delivery. For lack of better words, that’s the reality. And the minor leagues are toxic. Very toxic,” Modi said.