BETWEEN WICKETS
One of the consequences of India winning the T20 World Cup in 2007 was the establishment of the IPL. The World Cup was not a tournament India were expected to win, or even take part in since the cricket board thought the format was a bit of a joke. Senior players looked down upon it, with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly informing the selectors they would not be interested in participating.
Within a year, the IPL had arrived, with Brendon McCullum hitting 158 in the inaugural match. The combination of cricket and Bollywood, which had been so successful when 50-over cricket was taken to Sharjah in the 1980s, continued to entertain. With the IPL, it went one step further with Shah Rukh Khan (among others) becoming the face of one of the teams.
