From the extravagent ICC Twenty20 championship last year, to the exciting Indian Premier League, this format of cricket has provided spectators with great entertainment.

IPL came into being as a result of the formation of ICL. Its teams were bought by A-list personalities like Shahrukh Khan and Pretty Zinta. For the first time in the history of cricket, players were in the money and in the way they have been performing to date, they deserve every penny.

Unlike ICL, IPL has not had problems with the Test-playing cricket boards or finding stadia - the BCCI has seen to that.

'Players like Mike Hussey and Brendon McCullum have been revelations at the top of the order'


Players like Mike Hussey and Brendon McCullum have been revelations at the top of the order. But it's not all a bed of roses.

Most of the teams have Indian captains who have been unsuccessful in the role in the past (Sachin Tendulkar). And the most expensive players in the league are Indians even if they are not the best - take a bow Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, RP Singh and Rohit Sharma. The BCCI's strange logic says that this fact shows that our players are the best.

But can we say that IPL is the future of cricket? To date, the entertainment it has provided is enough to prove that it is. Boring and long county matches are not going to be able to compete with IPL in the long run. IPL is a great attraction for players because it offers fame which may well lead to fortune.

The money spent on IPL is one tenth the money spent on NBA in the USA this year. The Twenty20 format will quickly grow and attract people because of its excitement and speed.

The down side of course is what effect Twenty20 will have on Test cricket, which is the real barometer of how good a player is in terms of skill, stamina and calibre.