April 16: The ground seems to be giving way, but Lalit Modi is digging his heels in. Encouraged, perhaps, by Sharad Pawar’s public show of support and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president, Shashank Manohar’s decision to nominate him as his “alternate” for the world body’s executive board meeting in Dubai.

That Modi would be representing India at the highest forum within the International Cricket Council (ICC), on Monday-Tuesday, was made known this evening.

“I can’t give you the exact date when Mr Modi got nominated, but it was a few days ago,” the ICC’s head of media and communications, Colin Gibson, told The Telegraph.

A couple of senior BCCI officials one spoke to were absolutely in the dark. In fact, they were shocked to learn that the under-acute-fire Modi would actually sit in the chair earmarked for India.

Shock, indeed, would be the best way to describe how many in the BCCI, who want Modi to be removed as chairman and commissioner of the money-spinning Indian Premier League (IPL), responded to Pawar going on television and backing him.

That was last night, soon after word spread that a move was afoot to create the post of a co-chairman and to place Manohar, who has a squeaky clean image, in that position.

Pawar, a senior member of Manmohan Singh’s cabinet, is a former president of the BCCI and the next head of the ICC.

The conflicting signals have, predictably, set off confusion across the rank and file of the BCCI.

Modi is trying to project himself as the aggrieved party, in the Team Kochi row, but the income-tax raids have put him in the dock as well.

Sources said the “documents” pertaining to the Kochi and Pune franchises, which were auctioned last month, were with Modi and not at the IPL office in Mumbai.

“When the income-tax officials came, it transpired that the Kochi and Pune papers weren’t in the office (housed in the BCCI headquarters)... Modi had to be asked to rush those documents over,” one of the sources pointed out.

Reacting, somebody senior in the BCCI thundered: “It’s time to end Modi’s autocratic behaviour. Let the governing council (of the IPL) make a recommendation to the BCCI. We’ve had enough of controversies and embarrassments.”

Modi holds a constitutional position and so can only be removed by a two-thirds majority at the AGM or at a special emergent meeting of the BCCI.

Some governing council members are understood to have had an informal meeting in Dharamshala tonight but, till around midnight, nobody was available for a comment.

The knives appear to be out, with quite a few terming Modi’s continuation “untenable”, but the man at the centre of a furious storm isn’t short on bravado. Is it for real or a put-on? We will probably know sooner rather than later.

Shashi Tharoor may lose his job first, but big bets are also being placed on Modi being shown the door. Or, to begin with, having his wings clipped with a capital C.

As IPL 2010 reaches the business stage, the attention is on the off-the-field manoeuvring.