More than most sports, cricket is prone to crises, fits of hysterics and unplanned and uncoordinated lurches in new directions. Now it has all three at once. The game, as journalists like to say, is at a crossroads. And this one is shrouded in very thick fog.

The issue is Twenty20 cricket, the old game cut down to 20 overs a side – a 10th the length of a fuddy-duddy Test match. Five years ago this format did not exist. A year ago the game’s rulers in India still regarded it with contempt and did not even want to take part in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup. The team turned up – and won it.