Mumbai’s loss to Jammu and Kashmir in their opening Ranji Trophy match of the 2014-15 season yesterday has saddened city cricket’s stakeholders. Anyone can lose a game of cricket. After all, both teams turn up to win, but this loss only reinforces the belief that Mumbai cricket is in the depths of despair.

The mediocre show by the Ranji Trophy team over the past two years is only one part of the problem. At the heart of the upheavals is the Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) failure to continue the fine work of the administrators of yesteryear and the overall lack of commitment to look at the larger interests of cricket.