It was meant to be the saviour of cricket - a quick-fire format spiced with cheerleaders and film-star glamour that would reverse a decline in attendance and draw in a new wave of middle-class fans.
But a decade on from the first ever round of Twenty20 matches, there are fears that a string of corruption scandals may have done lasting damage to the game's reputation and concern the format, which places a premium on power-hitting, is ruining techniques. "T20 is all about big money and how to earn it quickly," the former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga told AFP.
"We are destroying our cricket by going down the T20 road... When fans lose faith in the game, we're on a very slippery slope."
While the first round of matches were held in England in mid-June 2003, India is now the undisputed centre of T20 as the host of the Indian Premier League (IPL) - a seven-week annual tournament which features the cream of world cricket.
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