For their final practice before launching cricket's next big thing, Bangalore's Royal Challengers were driven off their home ground last evening by the hectic rehearsals of stilt-walkers, acrobats and cheerleaders. Briefly, this cosmopolitan mix of marquee cricketers might have believed that they were only the support act, after all.

Behind the stands, on the No 2 ground, they were pursued by pop music blasting across the acreage. It was the theme song of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Dare To Dream, and its chorus brought a wry smile to a familiar face overseeing the session.

His red Challengers shirt had the name “Marty” across its back and held a stockier figure than many will remember. Still, though, unmistakeably Martin Crowe, not only one of the great batsmen of his generation but a man who should take much of the credit for the lucrative explosion in the shortest form of cricket.

Eleven years ago, prompted by an American colleague in New Zealand television, Crowe invented Cricket Max, a game that spread 20-overs cricket over four innings rather than two. It lasted five years before fading into extinction a few months before the ECB launched Twenty20. “We did have the bigger picture in mind and I'm still a little miffed that we didn't quite crack it,” Crowe said. “I always believed that a cricket match lasting two-and-a-half hours would work, but I could never have imagined it coming to the franchises, auctions and branding we have here now.

“I like everything about Twenty20, but deep down I still feel that four innings is best for all forms of the game. I believe the public is switching off from 50-overs games and I'm predicting that the one-day internationals of the future will be four innings of 20.”

Crowe has always been able to think outside the box. He was too original for some cricketing tastes, but as the revolution has revealed, he was simply ahead of his time. Having watched from afar as his vision, adapted and marketed, captured a new audience, he was pleased to be asked to play a role in this defining event.

“Greg Chappell put my name forward for a job with Bangalore,” he said. “Rahul Dravid, the captain, rang me and said he expected I'd be too busy. But to be in on the first year, and the first day, of IPL? Well, I just felt I should be here. I came out a month ago for the launch and saw how much needed doing. But everyone has got behind it and our owner has helped us brand everything - we've got a red bus, a red dressing-room, even a red base in our hotel.”

Crowe's title is chief cricket officer - “I didn't want to be a coach, they're always either fired or about to be fired” - and his duties include the bonding of a disparate group. “It's a fascinating mix, not only different cultures but also generations,” he said. Key to it is the serene, solid citizen that is Dravid. Remarkably, this evening's launch match will be his first taste of Twenty20.

Even more remarkably, this also applies to Sourav Ganguly, who will lead Kolkata Knight Riders. It is a salutary reminder of two things - India's early disdain for this fast-food cricket and that when they did start playing, Dravid and Ganguly were not selected. Both have moved on from captaining their country, Dravid with more relief than Ganguly. This, and a contrast in their characters that could hardly be wider, adds a frisson of competition to a game that really needs no further marketing strands.

Cricket has a poor record with opening ceremonies, but no expense has been spared for this evening's spectacle. With tickets, priced between £8 and £80, close to selling out, there also seems no doubt that the IPL will get the atmosphere it demands - an atmosphere, perhaps, to rival that giddy night 30 years ago in November, when Kerry Packer took the floodlit game to Sydney.

Back then, it was only Packer's money that was at stake. Here it is the outlay of eight franchise owners.

Shah Rukh Khan, the iconic Bollywood actor who owns the Kolkata franchise, arrived in Bangalore with no misapprehension of what is to come. “All of us are going to lose some money in the first year,” he said. “We are probably the only team that may be able to break even.” For a man who had, with his two partners, spent $75 million (about £37 million) on the franchise and a further $6.2 million on players, he sounded commendably sanguine. Probably, though, Khan knew that he would at least be in his element amid the Bollywoodish glamour this evening - which is more than can be said for some regulars here.

The M.Chinnaswamy Stadium has plenty of crumbling areas, a lawn that is a throwback to garden party days and a seating area called the “Antiquity Stand”. If those within it match the name today, heaven knows what they will make of the experience.

That, though, goes for most of the audience, and was soberly emphasised by Malcolm Speed, who has arrived here as chief executive of the ICC and as curious a spectator as the rest of us. Pressed on whether the ICC will create a dedicated period of each year for the IPL, Speed was properly cautious. “It hasn't started yet,” he said. “Before we go carving windows in the structure, let's see how good it is.”

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