It's a good time to take a break from all the hotbed of betting and intrigue
The corruption-riddled Indian Premier League should be rubbed out for a year and then start again.
That should give enough time to root out most of the rats - not all of them, that would be too fanciful by half.
The three-year-old IPL is dirty, and don't imagine the suspended
boss Lalit Modi is the only one who should be in the firing line.
Money-laundering, tax evasion, bribery and that old favourite, match-fixing, top the list of alleged wrongdoings.
Welcome to the wonderful world of the IPL, and the further you get into its machinations the greater the urge to reach for the soap.
The IPL hit the world game with hurricane force at its inception in 2008.
Players' earning potential jumped, grounds bulged with spectators, some of the cricket was exhilarating, commentators who should have known better fawned, and it only took three hours.
It's easy to forget that India at first took a dim view of the 20-over format.
Only once they'd won the inaugural world T20 title in South Africa in 2007 did they cotton on to its possibilities.
Enter Modi, who pushed the right buttons, drove it on to what it is today, for good and bad.
This would be a good time to pause for breath.
All player contracts ended after the just-completed third edition.
In that sense the slate is clean.
Taking a year's sabbatical won't happen, of course.
Far too many snouts are in this trough.
The Indian board, which oversees the IPL, needs to go in with a scrubbing brush and ensure greater transparency among the franchises.
Modi's replacement, Chirayu Amin, boss of a large pharmaceuticals company and BCCI vice-president, was making the right noises yesterday.
The IPL's governing council had been "dazzled" by the success of the league, he said.
"We were all basking in its glory ... we did overlook things ... we did trust Lalit Modi to run things better ... the governing council could have been more vigilant," he said.
Stories are emerging of business groups chasing one of two new franchises for next year having to set aside up to a further US$25 million ($35 million), known as sweat equity, to line influential pockets to smooth the passage.
Franchises are being chased for tax irregularities; players are being investigated for helping fix games in the IPL last year in South Africa.
And if it was happening there, be sure it was happening this time round in the sub-continent's illegal gambling hotbed.
The latest allegations are that bookmakers stopped taking bets on the Chennai Super Kings winning the final last Monday morning against the Mumbai Indians at a point shortly before Chennai made a recovery from a dicey situation halfway through their innings.
The effect was that when Chennai got up to win, the bookies cleaned up.
The tournament, over 60 games, produced a staggering turnover of US$11 billion, according to Indian security sources.
Modi is the fall guy. As one Indian source put it "the mood in the BCCI seems to be that the muck and the buck stops with Modi".
But if the BCCI are really intent on cleaning house, his should not be a solo tumble.
Plenty of people got rich on Modi's back. They should watch theirs.
The International Cricket Council has consistently baulked at giving the IPL a dedicated window to avoid conflicts with national team contests. Maybe they knew the ground was shaking.
Recent events should come as no great shock. Indeed the only surprise is that it's taken three years to turn sour.
