I am happy as long as players make money: Lalit Modi

New Delhi (PTI): The mastermind behind the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), Lalit Modi said he is not too much bothered about the anomalies in pricing of some players during the recently-held auction.
Modi said the hype of India's emergence in cricket was responsible for some young players being sold for healthy price tags.
"The hype that India is the world champs in Twenty20 is taking the whole team forward. There are people who are paying huge sum of money and today some may say that someone is over-priced or under-priced".
"As far as I am concerned, if players make more money, I am happy. Take the example of Ishant Sharma, six months back nobody knew him," Modi told NDTV on Saturday.
Modi said he was taken by surprise over the huge success of the IPL as a business venture.
"We are probably 30-40 per cent above our business plan. We thought it may fall in that area but never thought it would really happen. I myself is surprised by the fact that actually it has reached today. We would not have been able to write a better script ourself. Now we just have to deliver."
Modi set aside the controversy that he helped Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan hours before the start of the players' bidding.
In the dead of night on Tuesday, Modi visited Shah Rukh and courted controversy for helping Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt Ltd -- the IPL franchise owned by the actor.
Modi, however, said that he showed no favouritism and tried to help other franchisees as well.
"I have been accused of helping someone in the bidding process by some news channels. I didn't only visit Shahrukh Khan, I was with four teams owners at night. I was with Mohali before that, I was with Jaipur, I was with UB team. It's my job to explain them the process and explain them how to go for the bidding," Modi said.
Modi said players would be the ultimate gainers because of the IPL.
"Money is good for the game. It is not the board, the players are also making the money. More money means more stars, more enjoyment for the people. Even if in other sports like football, there are players who play for the country and perform even though the clubs pay them 10 times more.
"So similarly in cricket the country will always come first. And if you do not perform at the international level, you would not be chosen in the clubs."
The BCCI Vice President, however, said that the IPL, which would feature the Twenty20 format of the game, would never prove to be a menace for one-day and Test cricket.
"I don't think it will ever happen. There are lots of people who will die for their country, cheer for the country. It will take time for the club culture to set in. It won't happen overnight.
Modi also allayed fears that the IPL would affect the International Cricket Council's Future Tour Programme and because of the league India might not be able to host weaker sides.
"ICC or I or anybody else cannot create a window till 2011. FTP, till 2011, is already frozen and nobody is asking to change it till 2011. It is the media who is speculating. We have a natural window in the month of March when most of the countries stop playing professional cricket," he said.