“It’s really a shame that matches have had to be decided on the D/L method. It’s not the best way to play the IPL,” said Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum, who had kicked off last year’s tournament with a record 158.

The new strategy breaks — 10 overs into the innings, created to accommodate more TV advertising — have not only received flak from players and coaches for breaking momentum, they have also been criticised by spectators at the ground as “needless” and “boring”.

But perhaps the biggest problem has been the failure of the batsmen to dominate the bowling for a sustained period of time in any of the matches. The scores that hovered in the 170-190 run mark on average last season are down to 130-140, no centuries have been hit so far, and the IPL is still waiting for the explosive start it was hoping to get.

It’s still early days, there are 52 matches to follow. Things could change quickly, but the initial feeling is that the energy of 2008 will be hard to replicate.