IPL Founder Gives Jay Shah Credit For T20 World Cup 2026 All-Time Viewership Record

Lalit Modi praises Jay Shah [Source: @MensCricket/X.com]

IPL founder and former chairman Lalit Modi praised ICC chairman Jay Shah after the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 hit record viewership. On social media, Modi credited Shah for securing the relevance of international cricket in the era of franchise leagues.

Jay Shah recently confirmed that the tournament crossed 500 million viewers in India, the highest ever for a T20 World Cup in the country. He also revealed that streaming platform JioHotstar recorded a peak of 60.5 million concurrent viewers.

IPL boss Lalit Modi hails Jay Shah’s leadership

Retweeting Jay Shah’s X post, IPL founder and fugitive Lalit Modi credited India’s commercial and broadcast power for the tournament’s success. 

He argued that India’s influence is crucial to global cricket’s financial ecosystem and suggested that under Shah’s leadership, the ICC is positioning the sport for wider global expansion, including cricket’s return at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

"That’s the power that India brings to the cricket world. An amazing job being done by you and your team despite countries like #bangladesh and #pakistan trying to hold the game to ransom. I am sure under your leadership as shown at this World Cup cricket will only grow globally," Modi said in his X post.

"The international level games will continue to come under pressure from domestic leagues like @ipl, @CPL, #bigbash , #southafrican league, luckily one does not need to worry about @thehundred @MLCricket, and others that will die slowly anyway - but the #icc now is embarking on its most ambitious journey ahead with taking the much loved sport #cricket onto a global stage - the @Olympics in Los Angeles will expose the game to a whole new audience and new generations of children not yet exposed to our game."

Lalit Kumar Modi

@LalitKModi

That’s the power that India brings to the cricket world. An amazing job being done by you and your team despite countries like #bangladesh and #pakistan trying to hold the game to ransom. I am sure under your leadership as shown at this World Cup cricket will only grow globally.

Lalit Modi argued that despite the rising dominance of franchise leagues, IPL will continue to be the most competitive and lucrative tournament.  

Also Read - Jay Shah Issues Official Statement On Jammu And Kashmir’s Historic Ranji Trophy Triumph

Lalit Modi calls for the scrapping of the ODI format

Apart from congratulating Jay Shah on the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 tournament’s success, Lalit Modi also made a suggestion to the ICC. 

He urged the apex board to reconsider the relevance of the 50-over format, arguing that scrapping ODIs could reduce player workload and align the calendar with commercial realities.

"One thing the @icc should examine whether there is any relevance left to the one day format. That’s in my view a format that can be done away and it will free time used to play this tournament a better thing for players who are over stretched with the number of days they need to play in a year. With country duty / ICC tournaments a must appear and their own domestic tournaments which they need to partake in and off course not to forget a tournament no one can even think about MISSING is the only future game in town @IPL for 1."

However, since the 50-over World Cup is still the biggest tournament of the sport in significance, it's hard to scrap the format completely. 

Modi went from being an IPL kingpin to a wanted fugitive

Lalit Modi was the founder and first chairman of the IPL in 2008. He set the foundation of one of the richest and most glamorous T20 tournaments. However, his tenure ended abruptly amid serious allegations of financial irregularities and misconduct.

In 2013, the BCCI banned him for life from holding any position in Indian cricket for serious misconduct and indiscipline, including bid rigging, selling media rights without authorisation, and trying to launch a rival league without consent.

Lalit Modi left India amid the controversies and has lived in London, and now he is a wanted fugitive, battling several court cases.

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