If you are confused about this new distraction called Twenty20, it does help that bewilderment is rampant. Make a note of these points of confusion, as you join the big conversation on T20’s potential to change cricket as we know it. They help consolidate the magic of a very special moment in the game’s growth.

Recall India’s match against South Africa on Thursday. The South African chase had only just begun when M.S. Dhoni summoned Dinesh Karthik to replace him behind the stumps. What’s going on, gasped a commentator (one among a group of veterans like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, David Lloyd and Nasser Hussain). Dhoni’s got a measure of the track, offered another, he reckons he will have to share the fifth bowler’s burden. Maybe, wondered yet another among them, in this format of the game he feels he can captain better from the field. Only Hussain, perhaps with the benefit of four years of T20 in England, was unnerved by this calm acceptance of Dhoni’s seemingly inscrutable move. As it happened, they missed the obvious answer, one they would have intuitively grasped if a five or one-day match were in progress. The Indian skipper had back pain and was taking advantage of the presence of another keeper in the playing eleven.

But that’s Twenty20. These past days, as our parks and public spaces have drained of urban residents at match time, the bewilderment has been a fascinating side attraction.

Cricket administrators, bemused by their own failure to anticipate this popularity, have been urging moderation. Keep a check on the number of T20s, is the official and unreasoned word of caution from the ICC and the BCCI — presumably in a bid to keep intact their pre-planned calendar of international tours.

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