It pretty much echoes the words of Carl Sandberg: what if they gave a war and nobody came. What if they gave a Games and nobody came. Well, a few, perhaps, but the earth doesn’t move. For most of us, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games came and went like well-mannered guests in that they disturbed nobody and demanded very little.

After a fashion, for those who rain on this sports parade as an anachronism a contained international event like this does spruce a city up considerably and add to its facilities without the burden of great debt, fears of security breaches and a sea change in people’s lives. I wouldn’t knock it for there is merit in the limitations. In comparison the Olympics or the World Cup in soccer demand just too much investment coupled with an invasive texture that is disruptive for the chosen city’s populace and even the host country.

India came fifth but left an indelible mark when their contingent scored gold in the ‘break the law’ department. Rajeev Mehta, secretary general of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and leader of 215 athletes, and wrestling referee Virender Singh Malik were arrested in Glasgow on the last day of the Games.

Mehta was allegedly driving without a license at Glasgow city center and was above the legal alcohol limit and Malik was allegedly involved in sexual assault in a hotel in the west of Glasgow city. So much for that leadership. What were they thinking?

There is a history to all this.

Indian sports officials make asses of themselves quite often. India also has a reputation for sending more officials than sportsmen and women to international events. Remember Suresh Kalmadi. His conduct in the 2010 Games came under scrutiny, with the Chief Vigilance Commission (India's anti-corruption organization) asking for an inquiry that led to Kalmadi’s arrest in 2011. On this high note onwards and downwards to 2018.

Now, to an unfinished saga. James Anderson, against all odds, was vindicated by the ICC judicial tribunal after Indian cricket captain M.S.Dhoni put a level 3 charge against him for pushing and abusing Ravendra Jadeja at Lords. Dhoni presented himself as an eyewitness to the words and actions but charges against both players were dropped after 14 days of official grandstanding and some Kafkaesque surreality.

Now, that, in my book, makes Dhoni a liar. You cannot just close the chapter and walk away. If the English media has lacerated him for trumping up a scenario that ostensibly ‘never occurred’ it has a point. Either he witnessed the unpleasantness or he cooked it up. If his evidence did not stand the test Dhoni is culpable. After all, even the ‘guilty’ Jadeja who was docked half his fee was given a reversal and exonerated in cricket’s most absurd legal circus. Even a kangaroo wouldn’t attend this court.

The next logical step to tar and feathering Dhoni would be to charge him for creating a pointless controversy. Right? But there is another twist in this tale. After the ICC has wrung the curtain down on all this nonsense because there just wasn’t any evidence (besides the Indian captain’s insistence that he was a witness) the BCCI counsel leaked that James Anderson had admitted his aggression. . Talk about cocking a snoot at the ICC mandarins. Anderson admits a day after the judgement that he abused Jadeja and threatened to damage his dental work. He further admits that what he did was not in the interests of the game or its spirit.

So we must then assume Dhoni was an honest bloke, he did not conjure up these charges. He said it like he saw it. What can the ICC do now? Does this august body which really displayed its incompetence on this issue concede the refuge of double jeopardy to Jimmy? Can they charge Anderson with the same offense twice? It is a bit of crust on his part to blather on about his misconduct after the verdict which then shouldn’t have gone in his favor in the first place seeing as how Jadeja had already been chastised. Can anyone out there make sense of all this?