IPL to boost cricket infrastructure ahead of World Cup 2011, says Lalit Modi
The cash-rich Indian Premier League has vowed to utilise revenue from the Twenty20 tournament to boost cricket infrastructure in India, with an eye on the 2011 World Cup cricket.
IPL chairman and BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi said improving infrastructure would be the top priority for the BCCI, as it prepared to host the 2011 World Cup in India.
Lalit Modi also said BCCI’s promotional activities in rural areas and tier-2 cities have resulted in so many youngsters finding international spotlight, a reference to the rising Indian pacer Praveen Kumar and skipper M S Dhoni, who were part of the Indian ODI team which won the Commonwealth Bank series in Australia recently. “Skills and the results are there for all to see,” he said.
Indian skipper M S Dhoni fetched the maximum amount of $1.5 million in the IPL auction held in Mumbai’s Hilton hotel in February.
IPL is the brainchild of Lalit Modi to take on the rebel Indian Cricket League, bankrolled by the Essel Group. IPL starts on 18 April, 2008.