‘It is a great honour for me to have been chosen by the Supreme Court. I see my role in the BCCI only as a nightwatchman.’

When Vinod Rai humbly commented about his appointment as the head of the Supreme Court-mandated Committee of Administrators (CoA) on national television on 30 January 2017, little did he know that he would stay at the crease for 33 months! In the next few days, the CoA came to grips with their onerous responsibility—that of overseeing the administration of one of the richest sports bodies in the world, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Notwithstanding his ardent support for the game, Rai refused to be blind to the flaws in its governance. And so the nightwatchman decided to play on the front foot; a characteristic style that he carries forward as he describes his innings in Not Just a Nightwatchman.