Lalit Modi’s grip over Indian cricket in general, and the Indian Premier League specifically, could be loosening, if a group his detractors have their way.

Modi’s rise in Indian cricket — he is a vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and commissioner of the IPL— did not happen without making enemies along the way.

His recent loss in the election for the presidency of the Rajasthan Cricket Association triggered off speculation that his detractors were trying to clip his IPL wings.

The man in question, however, denied any such thing was happening.

“There is no truth to these stories,” said Modi on Sunday. “These are planted stories.”

It is an open secret that Modi and N. Srinivasan, secretary of the board, do not see eye to eye, and if sources close to Srinivasan are to be believed, their relationship has only got more strained in the recent past.

A group of administrators have questioned the wisdom of having an independent commissioner for the IPL, a tournament run by the BCCI and propose that it, like any other tournament, should be conducted with the board president and secretary as ex-officio members.

If this happened, Srinivasan would become more powerful as he is the frontrunner for the president’s post once Shashank Manohar’s term comes to an end in 2011.