Informally addressing the crowd ‘Friends’ instead of the more formal ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’, Lalit Modi spoke with a sense of great and triumphant achievement and not a little relief at having pulled of DLF IPL in a foreign country.

“As I stand here before this excited, committed and sold out crowd in one of crickets most spectacular arenas for our opening day of Season 2009 of the DLF Indian Premier League I feel joy, humility, pride and gratitude,” he said.

Modi and his team have undoubtedly been working day and night to make IPL a reality in RSA. “The last month has been one of the most exciting and memorable of our lives. It has also been one of the most joyful - the carnival on Thursday, the visit to the Alexander Sinton School yesterday; the party last night and today’s wonderful cricket, all memories I will cherish forever,” he said in tones of a man who did a difficult job but enjoyed it thoroughly.

He gave thanks where it was due: “I am humbled by how graciously you, the South African people, have allowed us into your country and your homes; I am humbled by how you fans you have let us into hearts and minds; and I am humbled how readily you have adopted teams and players of the IPL,” he said and quoted a truism, “I recall the words of an old Buddhist saying: ?the flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all?”

Modi explained the process of how the DLF IPL came to be in South Africa this year, “We by necessity brought the DLF IPL to South Africa. And I am proud that we have spread our wings, that we have brought a taste of Modern India to a sports mad country; proud that we are on our way to making the DLF IPL a truly global sports event; proud that we have left a small legacy of contributing R9 million to assist in the education of your young future leaders and sportsmen with our HEAT initiative; and proud that we have in a small way helped to forge greater links between our two great Rainbow nations.”

Modi gave offered a very personal note of Thanks when he said, “But mostly I am grateful. On behalf of the BCCI, I wish to thank our great friends at the South African Government and Cricket South Africa who have acted so quickly and so brilliantly to make the move happen- it all happened in less than 4 weeks! It seems in this country the difficult happens immediately and the impossible takes a little longer!”

“Thanks also to the State Associations here, whose wonderful facilities we are all enjoying so much,” he added. “From the first day we arrived here I was convinced that the move could be a success, and with each passing day that conviction has grown ever stronger.”

Of course the sponsors, franchisees and media partners came in for a thankful mention as well, “The support of our Franchises, media partners and sponsors has been invaluable. Not once did any of them waiver in their support once the move was announced, so thank you to Sony, WSG, IPLT20.com, DLF, Fly Kingfisher, Hero Honda, Citi and Vodafone for the faith they have all shown,” he said.

“I would like to thank our partners, IMG, without whose expertise and unwavering commitment we would not be here today. The IMG team, led by my good friend Andrew Wildblood and his indomitable colleague Peter Griffiths, has been with us on the IPL journey from its inception and I knew when we arrived in South Africa just 25 days ago that if one company could succeed in the unchartered logistical challenge of organising an event of this scale at less than four weeks’ notice, it was IMG,” he added.

Modi also thanked his IPL colleagues and Sundar Raman for their round the clock dedication and hard work and also mentioned the role of old friend Etienne de Villiers and Francois Pienaar, the two newest members of the DLF IPL team “who have been invaluable in implementing a marketing plan that has explained the IPL to a new audience and generated the excitement we see here today,” said Modi.

Modi spoke about how all these people had helped create sports marketing history by moving the DLF IPL to South Africa so successfully.

As the opening ceremony was held after two of the games had already been played, Modi said, “If today’s action is anything to go by, all cricket fans are in for a treat over the next 37 days. I hope that you all enjoy the feast of cricket and entertainment that lies ahead.”

“I know that by the time I address the audience at the DLF IPL Final on May 24th, we will have made a lasting and positive impression in South Africa,” Modi expressed the hope, adding that the South Africans had already made an impression on him and his team.

Modi ended with an assurance to the hundreds of millions of cricket fans in India that he had not forgotten them. “We know that you will be watching in your millions, and we look forward to bringing the DLF IPL back home next year,” he assured.

As the T20 matches had already begun who could not very well say “let the games begin, so he said, “And now a little something to get your hearts racing again-Let the Games continue!”

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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