There were scenes of delirium in Bombay as tens of thousands of India cricket fans welcomed home their triumphant ICC World Twenty20 heroes. Security guards snatched autographs, Bollywood stars beamed smiles wider than Yuvraj Singh’s flashing blade and girls swooned at the new generation of cricketing superstars.

The cricket world is changing. In the blink of an eye, Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly were seemingly forgotten. These gods of yesteryear deemed Twenty20 a young man’s game and stayed at home, a decision that might in time be shown to have hastened their own downfalls.

Sublime placement, quick wrists and keen minds have been their hallmarks. Tendulkar has been the best player of his generation and the most prolific batsman in one-day history, with 15,425 runs and 41 hundreds, but I am glad not to have seen him slugging away these past two weeks.

For all its box-office appeal, Twenty20 has changed the fundamental psychology of batsman versus bowler. Traditionally, in the longer forms of the game, the bowlers have been the predators looking to hunt down a batsman. Operating in packs, they can throw everything they have: pace, swing, spin, aggression, while the batsman has to protect his one life. Some batsmen look to survive, most seek to counter-attack, the most gifted might, on occasion, dominate. But all approaches are tempered by the knowledge that one mistake and your innings is dead.

Twenty20 has changed these mentalities. The fear of getting out is not present in this form of the game. It is the dot ball, the one from which he scores no runs, that is the batsman’s scourge. The game is more about runs than wickets, so the hunted are now doing the hunting. The batsmen are enjoying dishing out punishment; just ask Stuart Broad, who was hit for six sixes in an over by Yuvraj.

The tide of bat dominating ball has been creeping closer for a while. Eighteen months ago in Johannesburg, South Africa chased down 438 to beat Australia in 50 overs. This year at the Brit Oval, Alistair Brown inspired Surrey to a world-record 496 for four against Gloucestershire. Batsmen’s horizons are changing and Twenty20 has been a catalyst.

Darren Maddy, one of England’s Twenty20 specialists, has witnessed the trend at close quarters. “We’ve seen how one-day cricket has influenced Test cricket, with Australia scoring at more than four per over,” he said. “It is the same with Twenty20 and the one-day game. Where once you’d look to hit long-on for a single, you’ll now just hit it over his head for six. Whereas chasing six an over used to be considered tough, teams will now chase ten or 12 per over.” Just as in rugby, where the threequarters now resemble bodybuilders clad in skin-tight playing shirts, cricket’s evolution is towards bigger ball-strikers; Australia even do a take on the shirts. Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Jacob Oram, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kevin Pietersen and Yuvraj are all intimidating specimens to bowl at.

Big strapping batsmen possessed of savage intent is no guarantee of success, however. Recognising the right ball to launch and mastering the techniques required for hitting it a long way are other key ingredients. Robert Key, Kent’s Twenty20 Cup-winning captain this year, explained: “People are taking hitting the ball to a different level. The thing that the most successful players have done well is stand still, react to the ball and hit it out of the park.

“You look at the Aussie pickups or Yuvraj’s pickup compared to the English. They take the bat back high and wide, which enables them to swing at the ball properly. When Hayden’s parking [Shaun] Pollock over mid-on it’s like a threequarter golf swing.”

For once, there was little pressure on India to deliver on the big occasion. Unburdened by expectation, Mahendra Singh Dhoni got his team enjoying the whole experience and playing with freedom. They captured the festival mood of the inaugural World Twenty20 and in Yuvraj, who emerged from the shadows of legends to take centre stage, they might have found a player who can lead them into a brave new world.