My daughter's been saving her college bus fare to watch the women's cricket on someone's phone at the canteen. I told her, beta, if the government put half the money into their nets that they put into the men's team's foreign tours, maybe we’d see some real numbers at the box office. But then I think of that guard at Silver Springs—his daughter runs state-level 800m, trains on an empty stomach. Show me the data that says one extra stadium will change her breakfast, and I’ll believe.

Rajendra bhai, I saw something yesterday that stuck with me. Near the bus stand, there's a little girl, maybe 12, teaching her younger brother a cricket shot with a broken plastic bat. Her form was better than half the older boys I see playing in the evenings—we act like sport is a privilege, but for her, it's just the space to do it. I've read the studies: one extra bus route to a ground, one proper light on the street, changes more than all the speeches. Who gets hurt when we drag our feet? The girl with the plastic bat.