If anyone still doubts the power of world cricket is centralised in the corridors of the BCCI's headquarters in Mumbai, then they must have spent 2008 on Mars.
India, whether through trivial or more significant links, had its part to play in almost every major news story and development - on and off the field - in the game this year.
From the rise of Twenty20 to the loosening of Australia's on-field dominance, India was there.
India's role in keeping Zimbabwe in the world cricket family should also not be underestimated.
The game's newest power even had links to the retirements of Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Pollock and Anil Kumble.
Hell, even the gone-fishing saga which embroiled Andrew Symonds was somehow attributed to India.
The year started in explosive fashion when India lost a thrilling Test in Sydney which will forever be remembered for the off-field recriminations that followed.
There were allegations of racial vilification, poor sportsmanship, Kumble reproducing a line immortalised by Australia's Bodyline captain Bill Woodfull, and even calls for Ricky Ponting to be sacked.
The moral high ground the Indians initially held crumbled when the BCCI flexed its considerable muscle and threatened to take its bat and ball and fly home following a three-Test ban handed to Harbhajan Singh for allegedly calling Symonds a 'monkey'.
A subsequent appeal after the completion of the Test series exonerated Harbhajan, found him guilty of a lesser offence and fined him 50 percent of his match fee.
The strained relations between Australia and India did not stop many Australian players from accepting lucrative sums to play in the inaugural Indian Premier League.
The pockets of players, even those who had retired such as Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Pollock, were lined as were those of the BCCI and TV executives.
Even in the non-sanctioned Indian Cricket League there were players, such as Jimmy Maher, Michael Kasprowicz and New Zealand star Shane Bond, throwing away first-class careers for the Twenty20 buck.
How to prevent future players from choosing coin ahead of country will be one of the major issues the ICC must deal with.
Cricket Australia, along with its counterpart in South Africa, was set to claim its slice of the pie until the Champions League Twenty20 - an international competition featuring domestic teams - fell through following the Mumbai terror attacks.
The ramifications for world cricket and India's control of it following the atrocities are yet unknown but if England's decision to complete a Test series there is any guide, it's still true that when rupees talk, cricket administrators listen.
Unless they are rupees of a Pakistani kind. Australia cancelled its tour of that nation earlier this year due to terrorism fears and an unstable political situation.
It's due to tour Pakistan again next year but only the foolhardy will bet on it going ahead.
The situation is far bleaker in Zimbabwe which - in an indictment on the game - has not been kicked out of world cricket.
As a full member of the ICC, Zimbabwe Cricket, which is closely aligned to the disgraceful Robert Mugabe regime, receives millions from the game's governing body.
If the poor health of the game in Zimbabwe is any guide, the ICC may as well hand the money straight to the dictator, who prospers while his countrymen suffer.
There was a move in July to strip Zimbabwe's right to be a full member of the ICC but that was quashed by an Indian-led bloc of nations comprising of Pakistan, Bangladesh and the West Indies.
Without Zimbabwe, that group loses its majority on the ICC table. With Zimbabwe, the game loses a part of its soul.
Symonds was sent away to do some soul searching after doing what any red-blooded Australian would do - choosing to go fishing ahead of attending a compulsory team meeting.
After much skirting of the topic from CA, Symonds revealed in a TV interview he had problems with alcohol just days before returning to the Test side.
Some believe Symonds' disillusion with what he perceived as a lack of support from CA during the 'Monkeygate' affair started his downfall.
Symonds then celebrated Australia's first Test win over New Zealand by again jeopardising his career - this time in a Brisbane pub where he was involved in an altercation with an exuberant fan.
CA found he had committed no sin though many in the public condemned him for his stupidity.
Symonds' off-field woes were an unwanted distraction for the Australians, who after years of world domination are now in a heated battle to retain their No.1 tag.
The woe that was supposed to come post-Glenn McGrath and Warne finally came in India, nearly 21 months after the champion pair's retirements.
Despite much chasing of leather, Ponting's men were remarkably still alive on the penultimate day of the series but, needing to catch up on a slow over rate, the captain relied on part-timers and the moment and indeed the series were lost.
Again, there were people calling for Ponting's head. He remains captain but the second half of his reign is unlikely to be as successful as his first.
This year also saw the end of three of the game's finest modern-day players - Gilchrist, Pollock and Kumble.
All three will feature prominently in selection talks for their country's best-ever XI.
Gilchrist changed the way the game will view wicketkeepers; Pollock was South Africa's best bowler since its return to world cricket after apartheid and Kumble, a leggie who does not turn the ball, showed there was more than one way of skinning a cat.
The game will be poorer in their absence.