IPL needs to have more transparency

He who rides the tiger can never get off. Shashi Tharoor, India's Minister of State for External Affairs, and Lalit Modi, the Commissioner of the Indian Premier League (IPL), are finding this out the hard way — thanks to their irresponsible behaviour.

The bone of contention is an apparently successful bid made by a consortium for a Kochi-based IPL franchise. What followed has put the reputation of both the Indian minister and the IPL commissioner at stake.

Tharoor's future as a politician lies in the balance. His skill-sets as a politician are limited and he is paying for his ignorance. But he is not the only politician who is seen to be involved, either formally or informally, in the mechanisms of a sporting organisation.

Modi's penchant for throwing caution to the wind has opened the doors to the murky world of suspected slush funds and offshore companies that are generating millions for him, the BCCI, the team owners and the cricketers.

It is time a circus like the IPL is governed by a set of transparent and stringent rules. It provides entertainment to the paying public, including a lucrative livelihood for India's second and third-rung cricketers. It's health and credibility must therefore be rescued.