The other night at New Delhi's Kotla, as the crowd craned to catch a glimpse of Katrina Kaif, an express delivery from Jacques Kallis, 33, broke the stump into two almost equal halves. Few among the spectators knew who the batsman was — the scoreboard was lousy — or whether it was the leg stump or off.

Still, forget the stump. That's a minor thing. The major thing is that cricket watchers are generally missing the point that Indian Premier League has brought experience back in fashion.

Ironically, the pace of the Twenty20 format was initially considered too fast to accommodate old bones. As things stand, it could well turn out to be the sinecure for ageing cricketers.

The game at Kotla was decided by Delhi Daredevils' Glen McGrath, 38, who returned the best IPL figures yet, claiming four wickets. The other standout performers with the ball in the tournament have been 39-year-old Shane Warne (who also won a last-over finish with the bat), Murali, 36, Daniel Vettori, 29, and Brett Lee, who will be 32 this year.

Among the batsmen, 33-year-old Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, who is as old as Hussey, and Gilchrist, 37, have each scorched a century. Brendon McCullum, who got the highest T20 score in the first match, is no spring chicken at 27.

Hayden, 38, has not got a century but contributed significantly in Chennai's wins. Sehwag, 30, has won two matches off his own bat and always seems on the verge of a big one.

As the Twenty20 format becomes a familiar animal, it seems most pro-young pundits got it wrong. They were perhaps egged on by the absence of Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly in the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup. They conveniently ignored that one of the best batsmen in the tournament was Misbah, who at that time was about 33 years old.

The shortest version of the game increases the urgency, but also makes less physical demand on the players. You have to run hard between the wickets, but only for a short period — an individual innings lasting 60 balls is fairly long. You field like a demon, but for 60 per cent less overs (and that much less time) than you do in 50-over one-day matches.

The catch that Dravid, 35, took at Kotla was outstanding, easily the best of the match, outshining anything that Virat Kohli, the Under-19 captain, had done in the field.

Ironically again, bowling, which is increasingly becoming a thankless job in ODIs, makes the most room for the Dad's Army. One needs to bowl only 24 deliveries. Someone like McGrath can probably do that in his sleep.