At a recent cricket event, where the focus was on local, city cricket, several panellists spoke out about their memories of cricket in Mumbai. What came through was that we need to keep school cricket going strong, and there must be a fillip for university and college cricket. The latter was once extremely important and prestigious, but has slipped down the ladder over the years. There has to be a concerted effort to revive it to its past stature.

This was about cricket, but we need to use a wider lens to include all sports. We get champions by making the base of the ladder and its rungs immensely strong. It is only then that our athletes can scale that and reach for the skies.