While it would be unfair to suggest that we were wondering what all the fuss had been about, the IPL had still been short of decent contests in its short life, which is exactly what the short form of the game is supposed to engender.

Perhaps the comparative shortage of tension has, in its way, helped to introduce a note of calm. There is no doubt that Twenty20 is here to stay and that it has abundant merits but there had been a rush to claim both that it was a panacea which could help to save cricket (which had not been exactly dying) and that it would be a licence to print money (when the game had not been exactly short).

Crowds have been good however, if not quite at capacity, and it is clear the players are taking it seriously, which given the amounts of money involved should have been a stone cold certainty but wasn't.

The IPL has also served to concentrate minds in England. The mood is growing for an English version with barely disguised recriminations that the England and Wales Cricket Board, having invented the format, should have thought of something similar first. But England is not India and if there is to be an EPL it is difficult to see it attracting the immense sums of money or the quality of players.

The Texan billionaire, Allen Stanford, who has lately been involved in West Indian cricket, seems to want to fund a Twenty20 league in England. He should not be spurned but there are many hurdles to clear before there is a workable proposal. It should not be forgotten that English T20 in its present form has been an astonishing success. Grounds could hardly be fuller, so the economic reasons for introducing more star players and more money may not be entirely straightforward.