Lalit Modi’s butler is fiddling with the television trying to work out why it will not bring up Sky Sports. The founder of the biggest league in world cricket is lying back on his sofa at his house in west London desperate to watch the latest big match in his grand project.

The butler never does fix the television but it does not matter because across two hours of chat with Modi, while fresh pomegranate juice and Indian snacks are served, the focus is not on the past or the here and now. It is on the future, and namely, the growth of the Indian Premier League and how it will dominate the cricket world even more than it does today.

According to Modi international bilateral cricket is a walking zombie already and the IPL will only become richer as India’s economy goes from strength to strength. He predicts a “bonanza” for cricketers, saying they will earn more than $1m per match and that the next generation will be fabulously wealthy.

He also warns the ICC that if it does not produce a proper Test championship the IPL could do it instead and reveals he always had plans for an IPL Test knockout competition with teams such as Mumbai playing floodlit matches over four days.