Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Cricket is on the threshold of another great revolution when the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets under way in April.
Forget Kerry Packer and his circus. This is the real thing. The IPL Twenty20 competition is set to change the very face of cricket.
Like all else in this world, the money factor is the key. And there is a lot of money being dangled in front of some of the world's best cricketers.
The auctions conducted by the eight franchises gave an indication of the money which is floating around. The players, being thorough professionals, will go where the money is.
What would Dr W G Grace have said about all this, one wonders. The good doctor would have probably shrugged and said 'I told you so.'
Being an amateur himself, Grace was not paid for his services to cricket. It was left to the professionals to earn from the game. Of course, Grace had his own way on making a bit of money from the game on the side.
The professionals, as they were called, were usually men who preferred to spend their summer in the sun rather than the dark coal pits. The money wasn't good but life was much better.
They were the men who were the backbone of the side. They played the game with honesty and resilience.
Unfortunately, they were victims of cricket's great divide. The amateurs hogged all the glory while the professionals got on with the job.
Hence a sub-standard amateur got to lead the side while an excellent professional was left to shoulder responsibility of holding the side together. There was also a separate dressing room for the amateurs.
It was not until the 1960s that English cricket finally got rid of the amateur-professional business.
Today, cricket has become one of the most lucrative professions. There is money in the game and outside it. A cricketer like Sachin Tendulkar must be earning as much as a top businessman.
The Twenty20 game has already caught the imagination of spectators all around the world. There were more people watching the Stanford Twenty20 tournament than the World Cup in the West Indies.
The IPL may be just what the doctor ordered to give a shot in the arm to cricket which is ailing in most countries.
Despite the improvements to Test cricket, the spectators still stay away. One-day cricket is still popular but the crowds don't throng the stadiums like old.
The Twenty20 could well be the new mantra. Businessmen will get involved and franchises will be opened in every cricket-playing nation. Cricket and business will go hand-in-hand.
Like football, a new scenario may emerge where players will battle each other through the franchises and then represent their country in Tests and one-dayers along the side.
There could be year-round cricket all over the world with a Ricky Ponting battling his wits against Muthiah Muralitharan in India or a Jacob Oram hitting sixes against Monty Panesar in South Africa.
Everything will, of course, depend on the success of the IPL. With a star-studded scenario already in the making, there is every indication that it will succeed.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) must accept that there is a big change coming in cricket. They must learn to live with it.
The ICC has been known to throw a spanner in the works at all things new. With the IPL, it will face money and muscle, which the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) possesses.
Today's professional cricketers are used to fast cars and huge mansions. The bus and the pit are as ancient as underarm bowling.
The ICC will have to strike the balance. Players must be allowed the freedom to join leagues and at the same time be made aware of the importance of representing the country.
This can easily be worked out as in the case of football.
There was a time when the most thrilling moment in a player's life was that phone call from the selectors informing of his inclusion in the team.
Now it could well be '$2 million one, '$2 million two, '$2 million three, sold to Melbourne franchise.'
