Manoj Badale of Blenheim Chalcot and the IPL's Rajasthan Royals

Last year Manoj Badale, co-founder and managing partner of Blenheim Chalcot, interviewed me, so this year I wanted to interview him.

Manoj's HQ is a modern set of offices in Hammersmith, West London, which is where I first met him. For my interview with Manoj, I was tight for time, yet he agreed to the interview and answered all my questions within 24 hours.

I didn't know that he was leaving for a week-long trip to Europe immediately thereafter. Being an old-fashioned hack and trying to abide by the code of conduct of my profession, I needed to send him his quotes for checking and so I pursued him through his secretary. He took time out from his trip (I didn't find out whether he was on a ski slope or on the beach or neither) to read and answer so that we could publish.

And then, when the whole story about the Indian Premier League moving out of India for 2009 became headline news, Manoj was everywhere on the bulletins and Newsnight, in his capacity as Chairman of the Rajasthan Royals team.

It is quite rare for an interviewee to be truly demure but one of Manoj's endearing characteristics is that he sees his operations as being 'work in progress' and shuns the word 'success.'

His interview can be read here starting page eight and if you click on the 1:1 icon on the grey tab above the text you can magnify the page.