Twenty 20 in the year 2020

The crowds were swelling up outside the brand new 125000 capacity Reliance stadium at Vashi, Mumbai. All roads leading to the stadium were jammed with Nanos, the preferred vehicle of the common man. It was super Saturday, the big day the whole of India and most of the world had waited for with pregnant anticipation. It was the final of the Airtel Indian Premier league between bitter rivals the Mumbai Indians, owned by the worlds richest man, Oil to Textile to Retail baron Mukesh Ambani, and the Bangalore Royal Challengers, owned by the flamboyant Airlines and Liquor billianaire Dr. Vijay Mallya.

At stake was more than the $100 million prize money. There was pride at stake and neither team could even contemplate losing to the arch rival. Two hours before the match start time, the stadium was already a sea of blue, the color of the home team. The North Stand was painted red with fans of the visiting Royal Challengers. The fans were already exchanging abuses. Security was water tight; all precautions had been taken to avoid a repeat of last months bloody clash between the two groups at the Kingfisher stadium, Bangalore after the Royals had lost to the visiting Mumbai. The teams had started warming up. Tension was writ large on the face of Mumbai Indians coach, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. At the opposite corner of the ground the Bangalore team was being put through the paces by their burly Aussie coach Mathew Hayden.

Whipping up a frenzy!

These two teams had dominated the IPL since 2010, when the $5 million salary cap on players was removed. They had shared 8 of the 10 tournaments held since then, with Mumbai winning 5. Mumbai was led by India Captain, Rohit Sharma. Bangalore was led by big Phil Jones, the burly allrounder from the US. He had been purchased from the American League champions, the Dallas Dashers for a record $200 million making him the costliest sportsperson on earth.

Twenty 20 Cricket had become the most popular sport in the world beating Soccer to a distant
second place. In fact soccer was being played only in certain parts of Latin America. There were T20 leagues all over the world. The biggest, toughest and most glamorous of them all was the Indian Premier league, powered by the worlds economic engine - India's 1 billion strong middle class. The IPL season spanned 9 long months from September to May. The league consisted of gruelling home and away matches between 25 privately owned Indian Franchises culminating in a grand finale between the two top placed teams.

The American Cricket League had started just two years ago, but had already captured the imagination of the American People in a big way. Home grown American players led by Phil Jones were making waves on the the T2o scene. Baseball players were slowly making a switch to the more lucrative T20 Cricket; not at all surprising since the basic skills required for both the sports were common - slam bang.

The English Cricket league owned by Sir Stanford was Europe's number one league though the Italian Serie Cricket was quickly catching up. Manchester United (yeah, the legendary Soccer Club had switched over to cricket) led by Indian Stud Robin Uthappa were the Europian Champions. There were leagues for Oceania, East Asia, Africa (the Africans were the most feared fast bowlers), Russia and even South America. The icing on the cake was a Champions League played between the top three teams from all the major leagues. T20 Cricket was truly the numero uno sport in the world. The traditional variety of cricket, Test Cricket was almost extinct played only by old timers on Weekdays at Lords when there were no T20 matches scheduled. The world cup played on national lines was held once in four years. The last world cup was held earlier in the year; dark horse Nigeria had stunned favourites India in the finals held in Moscow.

The IPL final had begun. Phil Jones won the toss and elected to bat first. Bangalore scored a whopping 260 runs powered by a brilliant century from Australian Shawn Marsh. In reply, Mumbai fought hard but lost by 2 runs, having required 24 runs in the final over bowled by Ivory Coast fast bowler Joseph Mbangwa. The Bangalore fans delirious with delight, were all headed for the nearest pubs. Without doubt revelry would continue through the night aided by pitchers of Kingfisher Lager. Amidst all the celebrations, Phil Jones was already thinking about next months Champions League final against Manchester United.