Did the Lalit Modi Angle to the Warne-Dixit Spat Affect the Punishment?

The BCCI does not like its authority challenged ( what administrative board does?). It appears that the judgment in the Shane Warne versus Sanjay Dixit may have had traces of a syndrome that the BCCI has wanted nipped in the bud - Lalit Modi's self indulgence.

shane warne at cricket centre

Lalit Modi may be staying secluded in far away London to escape the charges of financial irregularities piled against him in the course of the controversies that broke out about the Indian Premier League following the IPL 3 season. However, the former IPL chairman and commissioner has not quit playing a proxy game of following the IPL's ever move and choosing to lend his insight for benefit of those who choose to follow him on Twitter.

In fact, ever since the Rajasthan Royals captain, Shane Warne, has been at loggerheads with all and sundry over his pitch issues at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Lalit Modi has been looking for an angle and found plenty as Warne raised trouble against the Chennai Super Kings and then settled in on the RCA secretary, Sanjay Dixit.

Modi chose opportunity and joined Warne in lashing out at Dixit, with the words getting louder and more distracting than the IPL 4 can afford. While Modi's battles with the Indian cricket authorities are far from over or a decisive judgment reached to implicate one or the other, the BCCI through the IPL functioning have dealt Shane Warne punishment to the tune of $50,000.

While his not being punished with a one match ban for publicly abusing Dixit is being seen as fortuitous, the revelation of the amount has been flabbergasting even by IPL pay cheque standards. That alone has given way to conspiracy theories that merely setting an example for cricketers was perhaps not the only agenda, but also, showing the cost for associating with someone the board no longer sees as beneficial to the board or the players but rather detrimental.