The Great Game Called Cricket...

Gambhir revealed being dismissed cheaply in the previous matches spurred him on to a good knock in the fourth onedayer against SL.

Gambhir scored an unbeaten 150 as India surpassed Sri Lanka's total of 315 for six with just under two overs to spare.

The left-hander added 224 for the third wicket with Virat Kohli (107), who made his maiden ODI century.

Gambhir was run out cheaply in the second ODI and made 32 in the last match, but was pleased with his effort at Eden Gardens.

"I was pretty unfortunate in the last couple of innings but once I crossed the half-century mark here, I kept telling myself to keep going," he said.

"It was important to win this series and I am happy I played a good knock. It was important to build a partnership because we always knew the dew would be a factor on this ground.

"When we played South Africa the last time we were here, Graeme Smith got a hundred and the bowlers had great difficulty handling a wet ball.

"We knew that if we got a good partnership it would be easy for us once the dew kicked in."

Gambhir was named man of the match but declined the award and nominated Kohli instead.

"When you have someone at the other end who can attack the bowling, especially when you lose early wickets, it takes the pressure of you," Gambhir said of his Dehli team-mate.

"With Kohli attacking I was able to take my time to settle down. We told ourselves we needed to stay together until at least the 35th over and then try to force things in the third powerplay.

"But the way we batted, we didn't need the powerplay at that stage because we were ahead of the target we had set for ourselves.

"We had planned to score 70 in the last 10 overs, but we were well ahead."

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara said his bowlers had let the team down.

"We started off really well, Tharanga batting through the innings and the others batting around him," he said. "Once you get 315 on the board you expect your bowlers to really do the job for you.

"But with our bowling we were either too short or too full on either side of the wicket.

"The dew perhaps made it difficult for Sanath (Jayasuriya) and Suraj (Randiv) and (Tillakaratne) Dilshan when he came on, but I thought the fast bowlers should have been more disciplined."

Sri Lanka have been severely hit by injuries but Sangakkara was pleased with the effort from the replacements.

"We had so many debutants on this tour and all of them have really stepped up," Sangakkara said.

"Some of our best bowling has been from the debutants and that really augurs well. I have toured India since 2003 and I think we have been the most competitive in the one-dayers on this tour."

I must confess I am enjoying being a little part of a quiet new revolution in the world of cricket; of being in this wonderful and disarming global village. The Airtel Champions League T20 is an idea that is finding its feet and if you measure its success by the quality of cricket and the opportunity it is giving to the players, who were otherwise confined to narrower worlds, it has already worked. Admittedly, there are other tools to measure success and the more crucial ones are whether enough people are coming to the ground or watching at home. You can be sure those issues will be addressed because there are large investments at stake, but purely from a cricketing point of view I am excited.

There is now life beyond international cricket as we knew it and for that alone we must rejoice. There are few things that stir people's emotions more than nation versus nation contests, and that will never change, but that is a smaller, more exalted world. Sport, an indeed any pursuit in life, must allow as many people as possible to display their ability, to parade their skills and a nation versus nation contest can be restrictive.

It could never, for example, allow you to experience the combination of disbelief and joy that we saw with Alfonso Thomas of Somerset. Not many people knew much about him, we knew that he was a cricketer, no more, but against the Deccan Chargers he kept his cool, took his side home and then produced one of the most wonderfully innocent and unrestrained exhibitions of happiness I have seen. "I can't believe what I've done," he gushed, and for that moment alone I thought the Airtel CL T20 was worth it. There are two ways of globalising a game. One is to allow as many countries as possible to play it and the ICC is, very quietly, doing a very nice job. The other is to allow as many players as possible a stage on which to perform. This is what I hope the Airtel CL T20, and in the course of time all the feeder tournaments, will do.

Somerset didn't have as good a game when they played Trinidad and Tobago but I enjoyed that game just as much. Trinidad were better than the West Indies team I have seen in recent times and it showed us that Samuel Badree and Sherwin Ganga, to name just two, can play good cricket. Out of the anonymity, and the mess, that is West Indies cricket, here is a team that can play together and dream of a big prize. Our game will grow and will embrace many more on this world stage and that can only be good for its health.

I see only a couple of problem areas ahead. The first is the bond that must be created between a player and his audience. And for that to happen, a player cannot, quite literally, wear different caps. I was on air when Ross Taylor came out to bat for the Royal Challengers Bangalore against the Otago Volts and in spite of having seen a bit of cricket recently, I was taken aback by the spontaneity and the intensity of the welcome he received. Now should his team in New Zealand qualify for this tournament next year, he cannot walk out at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in different colours. I know these are early days but that would be cheating the fans and their affection. The Champions League and the IPL will grow on the deep connect that exists between a fan and a sportsman. We need to nurture and respect that connect because the league does not exist without the fan.

The other concern is that far too much depends on the health of one nation's economy and the investment it is willing to make in a sport. If India grows tired of cricket, or if the fans feel let down, the entire structure will collapse. And that is why it is critical, in these good times for franchise-based cricket, to invest in building loyalty. In the next 3-5 years, franchises should have started becoming global brands. Then everybody will get the confidence to invest more in franchises around the world, which in turn will lead to greater opportunity for players and more fun for fans.

But this is a good beginning. Now we only need to get more people in for non-home games. But that is for another day!