Dawood Ibrahim's control of IPL forced me to quit cricket management, claims Lalit Modi

Former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi has revealed startling claims about underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's alleged control over the cricket league and threats he faced. Modi stated in an interview with ANI that life threats and intimidation from Ibrahim's crime syndicate were major reasons for him to step down from cricket administration.

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Dawood Ibrahim is a known bookmaker. He controlled the cricket book. In those days, it used to be $2 billion of underground betting. Today, it's $4 billion of underground betting a game. It's huge. It's unimaginably huge. Every ball, there's an odd chance. It's the Satta Bazaar. Nobody fixes games anymore. You fix overs. You fix the ball.

Modi detailed how his firm opposition to match-fixing in the IPL's early years clashed with the vast underground betting empire, known as "Satta Bazaar," controlled by Ibrahim's D-Company. He described the syndicate's operation as "unimaginably huge," with betting worth billions of dollars changing with every ball. "Nobody fixes games anymore. You fix overs. You fix the ball," Modi explained, detailing sophisticated spot-fixing methods involving covert on-field signals.

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We don't know what success is. It's become so sophisticated. Somebody takes out a handkerchief, somebody rubs something the other way, and it's a sign. Okay, we watch for these signs. We look for these signs.

According to Modi, his strict monitoring of these signs and refusal to compromise made him a target. He asserted that there was no fixing in the IPL's first three years under his charge, as he took action against and banned many individuals. He also claimed to have rejected bribes amounting to "hundreds of millions of dollars" to "look the other way."

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If you look at the first three years when I ran the IPL, there was no fixing. I took a lot of people to task. And I threw a lot of people out of the stadium. I banned a lot of people from coming. It wasn't liked by the mafia.

Modi recounted a specific incident from 2012 where a fixer connected him to Dawood Ibrahim via a satellite phone. The fixer, operating from a well-connected intermediary's penthouse, insisted Modi meet Ibrahim. On speakerphone, Ibrahim allegedly attempted to pressure Modi into arranging an IPL franchise for the syndicate.

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They offered me hundreds of millions of dollars to look the other way.