I asked him whether football could ever replace cricket in the affections of the Indian people. He replied: “I think and hope so. If the Indian team does well, there is nothing to stop football equalling and possibly overthrowing cricket as the most popular game.” OK, so that’s a big if – India are currently 154th in the FIFA world rankings – but the point is a more general one: are young Indians, exposed to western influences in a way their parents never were, getting their kicks elsewhere? Whisper it, but do they find Test cricket boring?

When Twenty20 was introduced in England in 2003, the aim was to bring a new type of fan – younger and preferably female – through the gate. The IPL, goes the argument, is all about the cash. To a large extent this is true, but listen to Rahul Dravid, captain of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, replying last night to a journalist who asked him whether Twenty20 could damage Test cricket: “I don’t think so. I think it’s going to raise the profile of the game like nothing else. It’s going to bring new people to the venues and hopefully if we bring them to the ground, they will support the other forms of the game as well.”

It’s the kind of talk followers of the English game will be familiar with. The IPL has been called many things, but a chance to reconnect India’s youth with a game that most of us believe runs through their blood has not been one of them.