Days after the multi-millionaire Indian Premier League Auction 2025 at Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, which saw franchises war to buy their favourite players at whopping prices, a controversy erupted as former IPL chief IPL Governor Lalit Modi opened up about that time spot-fixing became a prime point of discussion.
Just after the auction, Lalit Modi explosively accused former BCCI President and CSK owner N. Srinivasan of how the latter requested him to drop Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera to make room for the English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff.
"Pick out everything, auction rigging. I gave Flintoff to Srinivasan. No doubts about it; every team knew about it. Srinivasan wasn’t going to let the IPL happen. He was a thorn in our Board. Yes, we told everybody not to pick ‘Flintoff.’ Yes, that I did—because Srinivasan said he wanted it," OneCricket quoted Lalit Modi as saying.
It is to be known that the black patch of the IPL tournament was recorded in history books. The Chennai Super Kings were suspended for two years from the IPL starting July 2015 due to their owner N. Srinivasan's involvement in the 2013 IPL betting case.
Though, the franchise re-joined the IPL for the 2018 season and won the title in its comeback season.
At that time in 2013, Lalit Modi had accused N. Srinivasan of IPL fixing and alleging he CSK owner requested that he release Thisara Perera, including Andrew Flintoff.
Modi even alleged that despite the IPL being a hit, Srinivasan was initially against it. However, he changed his mind later.
“He didn’t like the IPL and he didn’t think it would work, but then it started to work. When everybody started going back-to-back, he was also a member of the board. He was a big adversary of mine.” Modi said.
Not only this, Lalit also accused Srinivasan of allegedly influencing umpire appointments to ensure the favor of the CSK franchise.
“I went up against him, and he did many things. Umpire fixing, he accused me of it, and I accused him right back. He would change the umpire. At first, I didn’t think much about it. But when I realized he was putting a Chennai umpire on a Chennai game, it became an issue for me. That’s called indirect fixing. When I started exposing those things, he went totally against me.” Modi said.
In the IPL Auction 2025, ten franchises bought 182 players, of which 62 were overseas, at a whopping total of ₹639.15 crore. A total of 283 players went under hammer across the two days of the mega auction for the 2025 season, held at the Abadi Al Johar Arena in Jeddah on Sunday and Monday.
1.) Delhi Capitals: ₹20 Lakh
2.) Gujarat Titans: ₹15 Lakh
3.) Lucknow Super Giants: ₹10 Lakh
4.) Punjab Kings: ₹35 Lakh
5.) Royal Challengers Bengaluru: ₹75 Lakh
6.) Chennai Super Kings: ₹5 Lakh
7.) Kolkata Knight Riders: ₹5 Lakh
8.) Sunrisers Hyderabad: ₹20 Lakh
9) Mumbai Indians: ₹20 Lakh
10) Rajasthan Royals: ₹30 Lakh
