Cricket's new dawnMumbai, Jan 10(AZINS) Dear Justice Lodha,

For a nation mired in corruption and reeling in chicanery both high and low, it would be an understatement to say that your Supreme Court-appointed committee's report on reforms in the BCCI and the administration of the game that quickens the nation's heartbeat, could not have come at a more opportune time.

In one clean sweep, your path-breaking and much needed recommendations for cleaning up the game and re- instating its purity has given the nation hope and cricket lovers much to cheer about.

I myself never belonged to the latter category though. For years, while the rest of the country applauded, discussed, debated, cheered, celebrated and mourned the game in its various forms, I had remained aloof.
That a few men tossing a ball could have more than one billion people whipped into lather was a phenomenon that gave rise to great wonder and bemusement in me.

But for all my aloofness, even I was not immune to the despair that had begun to surround the game.

The conflicts of interest that plagued it, the vice-like grip that powerful politicians and bureaucrats had on it, the betting scams and sweet deals that fuelled its bottom line and made it the favourite milch cow of the rich and powerful; and of course, the manner in which its sportsmen and women were given no say in the way it was conducted.

I recount this only to demonstrate how extreme the crisis of cricket had become, that I, someone not remotely interested in it, hardly concerned at all by its wins and losses, was so conversant with its state of disrepute.
BCCI presidents holding on to their seats by the skin of their teeth; members using their positions to wield power and influence far beyond the extent of the game; allegations of corruption in team selections; allegations of corruption in media buying; spot-fixing and match-fixing scandals and of course, the IPL and its unimaginably fertile soil for all manner of fraud. It could be said that cricket in India had survived despite its administrators.

Survived because somewhere, there was still a rag tag team of urchins excited to be playing a makeshift version of it on a dusty street corner, or an entire neighbourhood glued to a single radio exulting over it or a stadium erupting in wild cheering over a win.

Truth be told, there is so little that brings joy and a reason to exult in our nation. Cricket and films are our only real joys and to have exploited this fact for self-interest and greed was an act of such shameful cynicism that it took one's breath away.

So who could have thought that your three-man committee appointed exactly a year ago by the apex court would be the sword of righteousness that could set right cricket's wrongs?

Monday, January 4th is being regarded as the day that cricket turned the corner.

No more part-time politicians; a robust player's association with representation of women; the delinking of the IPL from the BCCI; a suggestion to legalise betting and best of all, bringing the BCCI under the purview of the Right to Information Act!

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Santa Claus came a fortnight late this time around, but boy, what a bag of goodies he brought!

With these reforms, you have swung the ball right out of the stadium with the ease of an Azharuddin, Justice Lodha.

And as expected, the cheering in the stands has not stopped.

And so, even though cricket may not be a game I particularly like, for every snot-nosed kid who imagines he's Tendulkar hitting a six, I thank you Sir, for reinstating the purity of the game to its rightful place.

Have a very happy 2016!

With every good wish

Yours sincerely etc

[email protected], @msangghvi