Kieron Pollard had a batting average of 11.30 from 15 ODIs and 17.20 from 10 T20Is when he became the joint-biggest buy at the IPL player auction in January 2010. Mumbai Indians weren’t paying $750,000 (plus an undisclosed amount to break a tie with three other franchises) for Pollard’s international record; they were shelling out all that money for the fearsome hitting power he had shown in domestic T20 action – most notably while smashing 54 off 18 balls for T&T against New South Wales during the 2009 Champions League T20.

That IPL auction signaled a shift in the world game and, in the months ahead, Pollard continued to show how much ground franchise cricket had gained on the international game. He opted out of the West Indies A team in order to play T20s for Somerset and then refused a WICB central contract, since signing it would mean making himself available at all times for West Indies.