Lalit Modi is the most powerful cricket administrator in world cricket.

The brains behind money-spinning Twenty20 league
By K.R. Nayar

Dubai: Lalit Modi is one of the vice-presidents of the Board of Control in India (BCCI), but is known as a marketing wizard. It his business acumen that has helped swell the BCCI coffers.
When business tycoon Subash Chandra introduced the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which threatened to shatter the monopoly of BCCI, all of them turned towards Modi.
He emerged as their saviour, creating the Indian Premier League. So brilliant was his idea that international cricketers are now flocking around him.
Forty-five-year-old Modi was born in Delhi but his roots are from Rajasthan and he lives in Mumbai. It was Inderjit Bindra, a former president of the BCCI, who introduced Modi into cricket administration by appointing him as the vice-president of the Punjab Cricket Association.

Modi went on to become the president of Rajasthan. He hails from a business background and is the scion of Modi Enterprises.
He is also a board member of Godfrey Philips. His clout with the Rajasthan government is such that many say he is the ex-officio chief minister of the state.
Sharad Pawar, the president of the BCCI who is also a politician, used Modi's help in formulating his plans to successfully oust Jagmohan Dalmiyan.
Once Dalmiya was ousted Pawar and Bindra gifted him the BCCI vice-president's post. Modi ensured that the BCCI revenues increased seven-fold since he took office.
Today Modi is the most powerful cricket administrator in world cricket.