Similarly, when a squad know they have managed more than 200 runs in 20 overs, a psychological barrier is overcome — getting 400 in the course of 50 overs will surely appear more of a possibility.

T20 is in fact just an incremental innovation over one-days. From Test to one-days was a more basic shift. In Tests, for victory ten wickets have to be captured twice over. In one-days, only the final tally of runs determines victory. T20 alters one-days only in terms of the total number of overs available for each innings and some fielding regulations — besides taking away the possibility of a tie, with a bowl-out.

Yet T20 will change cricket. It will change the state of play, and it can — if its nascent appeal is adequately heeded — temper the excesses of contemporary cricket.

The game. Contrary to fears that cricket matches are becoming mindless slog-fests, T20 intensifies scrutiny of the game. Every delivery matters, every shot, every catch, every dive. With such little scope to make amends, freeloaders are caught out immediately.

Remember John Wright’s wry observation that the way limited-overs cricket was headed, any day now all eleven players would be picked for their batting. Most teams already go into ODIs with just four regular bowlers, even three. T20 has reversed that. The last fortnight in South Africa has shown that amongst well-matched teams the fifth bowler matters.

Also, in these early days of T20, with abbreviation increasing chances of unexpected brilliance from lesser rivals, teams will have to plan for every eventuality. They will have to enlarge their pool of probables. In that sense, the playing field is being flattened — for aspirants like Rohit Sharma determined to make good with the first chance, and for teams like Zimbabwe counting on discipline to give nothing away and seize on the opposition’s lapses. And joyous result: this intra- and inter-team flattening of the game brought to last night’s final Indian and Pakistan teams so radically transformed after their premature exit from the Caribbean World Cup.

... contd.