The previous time India returned home from an international tournament, it was a different story. After an inglorious exit from the World Cup in the West Indies in March, the players crept back under the cover of darkness to avoid the fury of fans burning their effigies and defacing posters with their faces on.

On Wednesday, after winning the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, India’s cricketers were greeted with a frenzied heroes’ welcome. Thousands braved a monsoon downpour here in Bombay to line the roads from the airport as the players were ferried in an open-top bus to the Wankhede Stadium, where thousands more cheering supporters and beaming dignitaries awaited them.

Their nail-biting victory over Pakistan, a neighbour and fierce cricketing rival, in the final in Johannesburg was watched by hundreds of millions of Indians and sent the country into a collective spasm of joy. Ecstatic fans spilt on to the streets to celebrate the spoils of a match that had gripped the sub-continent until the final wicket fell.

The tournament has done an enormous amount to revive flagging interest in cricket in India, among viewers and advertisers alike. It means that the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the governing body in the country that has often been criticised for picking players on reputation rather than form, will no longer be able to overlook the crop of emerging talent.

“People have woken up to this form of instant cricket,” Harish Bijoor, a Bangalore-based brand consultant, said. “This represents young India starting from the captaincy down and is saying that new names can make a big impact. The establishment has to give way to youth.”

It is an important point in India, where half the 1.1 billion population is under 25. The next generation of television viewers is not as conditioned – or as willing – to sit through five days of Test cricket.

With a proliferation of media and new forms of distracting entertainment, young Indians want quick results. An engaging three-hour spectacle that can be enjoyed after work, or during an afternoon with the family at the weekend, has huge appeal. And not only in India.

Analysts expect Twenty20 will be packaged for international audiences not naturally inclined to cricket, particularly as it has all the hallmarks of a potential Olympic sport. Advertisers, too, can be more certain that their target audience is glued to the screen for a concentrated period rather than dipping in and out with the ebbs and flows of the longer formats.

“Twenty20 is the next big thing,” Fraser Castellino, the chief executive of Emerging Media, the London-based company behind Cricket Star, the Indian reality TV show, said. “It is bringing new audiences into the game both to TV and to stadiums, and this will help domestic cricket in India. The advertisers will follow the crowds.”

Indian broadcasters are estimated to have earned more than £6 million from selling advertising slots during the Twenty20 tournament, three quarters of which came from India’s matches. The last 100 seconds of available commercial air time during the final was sold for £94,000.

It has buoyed the market before India’s forthcoming home series against Australia and Neo Sports, the Indian cricket channel owned by Nimbus Sports, has sold two thirds of its advertising inventory.

For the young heroes of the day, the impact of their achievement will be immediate riches. No sooner was victory sewn up than the BCCI announced that the team would share a £1.5 million bonus. Yuvraj Singh is to receive a further personal reward of £125,000 and a Porsche 911 for his record six sixes in an over against England. The powerfully built batsman, who is the son of Yograj, a former India fast bowler and Punjabi film star, will be in high demand for brand endorsements, as will Mahendra Dhoni, the captain and wicketkeeper who led India to their first significant international title since the World Cup in 1983.

It is all a far cry from the gloom that surrounded Indian cricket six months ago, when advertisements featuring players including Dhoni were pulled by embarrassed brand owners. As cash, houses and cars rained down this week on the players from state politicians desperate to share the glow of victory, those same companies could not reach quickly enough for their chequebooks.

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