By Patrick Kurbah
When Meghalaya Cricket Association received full recognition from the BCCI in 2018, it was supposed to be the dawn of a new era. The state’s cricketers, who were either playing locally or for Assam, would finally compete in their own team on the national stage. Talent would be nurtured, and the beautiful game would flourish in the hills. Instead, what followed over the years has been nothing short of a catastrophic descent into sporting irrelevance, corruption allegations, and administrative chaos that has left Meghalaya cricket gasping for survival. The numbers tell a story so brutal that it requires no embellishment.
The men’s team has had a win rate of less than 14% over the last two years. This translates to the team losing roughly 4 out of every 5 games. But even this dismal figure is generous compared to what the women’s team has endured: a soul-crushing win rate of below 3%, a data-point which translates to the team hardly winning any matches.
Is the team to be blamed for this poor performance? When even basic facilities of equipment and adequate practice are scarce for talented players, and when an administration feels like they are bigger than the game itself, what we finally add up to is a total systematic failure. This has been the story of Meghalaya’s cricket over the years.
From Promise to Perdition
The fall has been precipitous. There was a time, not long ago, when Meghalaya showed some promise. In 2019, in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Meghalaya had defeated the might of Mumbai in a T20 game, chasing down a target of 158 with 6 wickets in hand.
This our state’s team achieved with players like Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur and Dhawal Kulkarni — who regularly feature in the Indian cricket team — playing for Mumbai. A historic feat by any regard.
The downward trajectory slowly began soon after, but some grace was still saved when the men’s team earned promotion to the Elite Group of the Ranji Trophy in 2023-24, to compete with other veteran state teams. That moment should have been a springboard. Instead, it became a downfall.
The 2024-25 Elite Group campaign was nothing less than humiliation on a national scale. Seven matches played, seven losses, zero points, immediate relegation.
They didn’t just lose, they were demolished, suffering defeats by innings margins five times, including an infamous thrashing by Mumbai (Innings & 456 runs), the third-biggest defeat in Ranji Trophy history.
How does a team collapse so completely after achieving promotion? How do batting line-ups get bowled out for 73, 78, 86, and 103 in a single season?
Even in the ongoing 2025-26 CK Nayudu Trophy, Jharkhand put up a score of 700, with a batsman making history scoring 400+ runs individually. In comparison, our team put up scores of 102 & 261 in the first and second innings respectively, losing by an innings and 337 runs. Again, one of the largest defeats of CK Nayudu Trophy.
The answer lies not in the talent. Meghalaya has always had cricketers with potential. The answer lies in what has rotted the system from within. The answer lies in the absolute, presumably deliberate, administrative mismanagement.
The Stench of Corruption
For years, whispers have circulated around Meghalaya cricket that must no longer be ignored. Allegations of unfair selections, where merit takes a backseat to connections and favouritism. Stories of personal vendettas played out through team and managerial selection, where talented players and experienced professionals are side-lined not because they lack skill but because they lack the right relationships.
Most disturbing are the claims of money changing hands for selection, a pay-to-play system that would be laughable if it weren’t so destructive.
Beyond selection controversies, there are persistent murmurs of financial malpractices, with questions about how funds meant for player development and infrastructure have been utilized.
The high-handedness of previous administrations, operating with an iron fist that brooked no dissent or accountability, created an environment where questioning anything was career suicide for players and officials alike.
Even the electoral processes have not been free from suspicion, with allegations of malpractices in how leadership has been chosen.
Are these allegations proven? No. Because every time there is an allegation, the administration has come out in defence, instead of genuinely looking into concerns and mending their ways. Not to mention, the ones alleging are never to be found close to the cricketing fraternity soon after.However, when you look at the performance data — a men’s team with a more than 75% loss rate, a women’s team that is hardly given practice and training and therefore cannot win, youth development systems producing players who lose by innings defeats in Under-23 cricket — the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming and speaks for itself.
You cannot systematically destroy cricket to this extent through incompetence alone. One cannot simply say players are not capable when they have never been tried and trained for their potential sufficiently. This level of failure of Meghalaya’s cricket requires conscious corruption, mismanagement, and a complete abandonment of meritocracy.
The Data Doesn’t Lie
The performance analysis reveals five systemic failures: batting fragility (chronic collapses below 100), bowling inadequacy (conceding 400+ regularly while unable to defend even small totals), tactical deficiencies, youth development collapse, and competitive unreadiness. These aren’t just technical failures, they’re symptoms of a diseased system which has never prioritised its players.
Consider this: Meghalaya’s batting average dropped 36% over five seasons. The team’s group standing fell from 2nd place to dead last (8th of 8). The Ranji Trophy average win rate plummeted from 50% to 10% (not to mention 0% in the last season). The T20 win rate declined by 30% over seven seasons. These aren’t fluctuations, this is freefall.
The women’s team presents an even grimmer picture. Relegated from Elite Group to Plate Group after failing to win a single match. All out for 43 runs. All out for 60 runs. Losing while chasing 75. This is not cricket, this is humiliation dressed up as sport.
Enter James Sangma: Opportunity or More of the Same?
Into this toxic wasteland steps James Sangma, the new President of the Meghalaya Cricket Association. His appointment brings both hope and skepticism. Hope, because anything is better than what came before. Skepticism, because Sangma carries baggage from the old administration and, as a politician, his own share of controversies.
But here’s the paradox. Sangma’s political background might be exactly what Meghalaya cricket needs right now.
Politics teaches you how to navigate complex power structures, how to build coalitions, how to secure resources, and how to get things done in bureaucratic systems. If Sangma can channel his political acumen and network towards cleaning up the Meghalaya Cricket Association, he could be the catalyst for transformation.
This is his chance. When you’re at rock bottom, the only direction is up. Every small improvement will be visible. Every honest selection will be noticed. Every rupee properly spent on player development will show results.
A Strategy Is Not As Complicated
First, the administrative dirt must be cleaned. Transparent financial audits. Merit-based selection committees with accountability. Follow the all rules laid out, constitutionally, legally and administratively. Clear performance metrics for coaches and administrators. An end to the culture of fear and favouritism that has poisoned the association.
Second, invest in talent development. Meghalaya has always had cricketers with raw ability. What they lack is proper coaching, infrastructure, competitive exposure, and a pathway to progress based purely on performance. The state needs specialised coaches, modern training facilities, sports science support, and most critically, an environment where talent is rewarded, not connections.
Third, restore credibility through results. The new administration must set realistic targets because change takes time. Win 30-35% of matches in the first year, 40% in the second. Build from the Plate Group back to Elite, not through luck but through systematic improvement. Give the women’s team resources, support, practice games and a genuine chance to compete.
Fourth, transparency. Every selection, every financial decision, every administrative appointment must be open to scrutiny. Publish detailed annual reports. Make MCA answerable to the public and to the players whose lives it affects. Decisions must not be arbitrary, person or position based. It needs to be collective and in the best interest of the association.
The Last Chance
James Sangma has inherited a cricket association that some have treated as a money-making opportunity rather than a sporting institution. Previous administrations allegedly operated with an oppressive hand, crushing dissent and accountability in equal measure. The new leadership must decisively break from this past.
If Sangma uses this opportunity to genuinely reform MCA, to put cricket and cricketers first, to build systems based on merit rather than money or connections, he could transform his political legacy. He could be remembered not just as another politician who headed a sports body, but as the person who saved Meghalaya cricket from complete extinction.
But if this becomes business as usual — if selections remain opaque, if funds continue to mysteriously vanish, if talent continues to be ignored in favour of those who pay or please — then Sangma will preside over the final death throes of competitive cricket in Meghalaya.
The talent exists. The desire exists. The infrastructure can be built. What has been missing is honest, accountable leadership that actually cares about the game more than about what they can extract from it.
After years of oppressive mismanagement, a breath of fresh air was desperately needed. That air has arrived. Whether it revives the patient or merely postpones the inevitable depends entirely on whether this new administration has the courage to be different, to be better, to be what Meghalaya cricket deserves.
The clock is ticking. The data is damning. The opportunity is now. Rock bottom is where we are. The only question is, do we have what it takes to climb back up? Or will Meghalaya’s cricket ultimately die a painful death?
(The author is a legal consultant and a sports enthusiast)
