Former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairperson Lalit Modi said that he had personally approached the Indian cricketers in the dressing room during their 2007 England tour, urging them to participate in the inaugural T20 World Cup. India’s tour of England took place from July 19 to September 8, 2007, comprising a three-match Test series and a seven-match ODI series, just days before the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 got underway on September 11.
While senior stars such as Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were part of the squad for the England tour, the team selected for the T20 World Cup featured a younger core, with several experienced players absent. Led by MS Dhoni, India’s squad included players such as Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and others. The team ended up winning the whole thing and a year later, the IPL was born and ushered in the boom of T20 cricket.
Modi also said that the format was met with skepticism with a lot of players calling it a “stupid game” and citing fatigue after a long tour and a desire to spend time with their families.
“I went to every player in the dressing room in England when India was touring in 2007. I went and I said, ‘Please, I beg you to play the T20. They said, ‘Lalit, are you joking? What is this stupid game? We don’t want to play it.’ Everybody said that to me in the dressing room. ‘Oh, we’ve had a long tour. We want to be with our families.’ Now, today, would the public, number one, the players, number two, the administrator, number three, accept a player not playing the World Cup? There’d be uproar,” he said in an interview with ANI.
“The BCCI didn’t even send the main team, India team to South Africa to play the World Cup T20. They sent a second team. ‘Let’s not even send the India team. Let’s put our new team under Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Completely raw. Completely green. The Tendulkars, the Dravids, the Saurav Gangulys; none of them played the T20 World Cup. Would you accept that today? Today, if the Indian team is to go to the World Cup, any World Cup, would you accept a B team? Would the public accept a B team? Would the board accept a B team?” he added.
(With ANI inputs)
