India, March 25 -- On Tuesday evening, the true valuation of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and its franchises in the global market came into focus after two teams, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, were acquired in mouth-watering deals worth billions of dollars. Few would have imagined such valuations when the IPL took off in 2008, a year after India won the inaugural World T20, which boosted the BCCI's belief in T20Is, a format they had initially opposed. But Lalit Modi, the creator of the IPL, knew. In fact, he had envisioned it even before T20 was a concept.

In 2003, the first official T20 match was played, and two years later, the first international match in the format took place in Auckland. But Lalit had pitched ...