New Delhi, Tuesday 20 April 2010: Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi is likely to quit from his position after the final match of the Twenty20 extravaganza this weekend, said BCCI sources.

The sources said the cricket board members are miffed with Lalit Modi and the controversies hovering around him. The sources also added that the board members consider the present controversy as biggest it has ever faced.

BCCI president Shahank Manohar is presently in New Delhi to meet Sharad Pawar.

Earlier, Modi’s days as the IPL commissioner appeared to be numbered as the BCCI’s top brass has more or less made up its mind to remove the high-flying administrator who has triggered a political storm and brought the BCCI under the Income Tax scanner.

The stand against Modi has hardened over the last few days as the rapidly-developing events surrounding Kochi franchise’s stakeholding pattern has opened a pandora’s box about financial irregularities in the IPL.

Modi himself is under fire for allegedly helping his family and friends buy stakes in various IPL teams.

His tweets about Kochi’s shareholding created a political storm as it emerged that minister of state for external affair Shashi Tharoor’s close friend Sunanda Pushkar had a sweat equity worth Rs 70 crore. Tharoor had to resign, while Pushkar also gave up her stake in Kochi franchise.

“Modi’s exit is a foregone conclusion. The BCCI members are extremely unhappy in the manner in which he brought about this controversy,” a top BCCI source said.

“Never in the history of BCCI has the Income Tax sleuths raided the offices. It has not only tarnished the image of the Board but has also sullied the IPL brand,” the source said.

(News agency)