A Letter to Shashank Manohar

Dear Mr. Manohar,

Let me start off by congratulating you on making Indian cricket a profit-making entity. Your monetary contribution to Indian football deserves praise too. Your achievements are second only to the turnaround in the business of Indian Railways.

With that out of the way, I would like to ask you a few pointed questions. Why do you treat your consumers so shabbily? There are millions of us who love watching cricket no matter what format it is. Then why are we subjected to five-ball overs and deprived of replays? Is it so difficult to enforce a clause which says the broadcaster has to cover all six balls in an over? How hard is it to have clean restrooms and courteous staff at stadiums?

There is a three-test series coming up and it seems you would rather have the fans not watch it. What is the sense in starting the first test on a Monday, thereby ensuring kids would be busy at school and parents would have professional obligations for all five days of the game? Who is going to fill up that 50,000 seater stadium at Motera, a stadium you have spent millions on renovating into a more than decent facility? Maybe this is a clever ploy to get housewives to switch from their afternoon soaps to soporific cricket on dead pitches. Even if all three tests go the distance, there will be just three days of cricket played on the weekend. I hope this doesn't mean you will provide low, slow pitches that produce three dull draws.

I would like to end this letter by imploring you to not alienate us fans. You are already losing the next generation to Manchester United and Chelsea. Maybe it's time you realized there is a lot more money to be made by giving your patrons the best chance to pursue their passion. Playing test cricket on weekdays is certainly not the way to go.

Yours sincerely,
Mahek Vyas