Cricketers should have been considered for IPL post: Thackeray

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday asked the BCCI as to why cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri or Ajit Wadekar were not considered to replace ousted IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.

He also questioned the logic behind his old friend Sharad Pawar making Modi IPL chief despite his "shady past."

"Modi has been replaced by another big shot industrialist....(BCCI chief Shashank) Manohar should be asked why names of Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri or Ajit Wadekar were not considered for the post," he said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna.

Thackeray also asked as to why "Pawar and others handed over IPL reins to Modi despite his shady past."

"Pawar is a minister in the Union cabinet and his party rules Maharashtra. Despite having police and intelligence agencies at their disposal, did they fail to know the shady past of Modi?" Thackeray said.

"The decision to hand over reins of IPL, which rakes in thousands of crores, to such a person is dubious," he alleged.

He said Manohar could have suspended Modi much earlier. "Manohar says the whole world knew about IPL dealings but the Governing Council was kept in the dark," he said.