Old dogs bite back

It's tempting to think of Twenty20 as a young man's game, but here's hoping yesterday's opening matches at Newlands dealt with that theory once and for all. Or for another 24 hours at least.

The headline acts were enough to warm the cockle of late-30-something hearts, from Sachin Tendulkar's measured 59 not out in the opening game to Anil Kumble's dreamy 5 for 5 in the second, and taking in Rahul Dravid's classy 66 and some old-style bravado from Shane Warne.

I'm not going to get all misty-eyed on the basis of the first two encounters, but there are a lot of young Indians in this tournament and the novelty factor of the South African pitches is bound to play a role. Look at the way Swapnil Asnodkar - an unexpected hero in 2008 - threw the bat at his second ball, before gauging the bounce of the pitch. After being casually asked by a none-the-wiser English journalist at Friday's VIP soiree whether he had played last year, this was a second cruel blow in two days.

More testing pitches may not satisfy a crowd's bloodlust, but they produce more gripping cricket and they are far more adept at exposing crudity than the subcontinent's array of belters. The purists' main complaint about this form of the game is that subplots don't have time to play out, yet each of the old boys yesterday provided mini-theatrics of their own.

Even sections of the local media, not exactly doing cartwheels at the prospect of another six weeks' work after marking "holiday" down in their diaries some time ago, had to doff a cap to Tendulkar's cover-driving and Warne's competitive zeal. And when Warne beat Dravid outside off with the kind of legbreak that used to leave batting against him in the lap of the Gods, it might have been India v Australia circa 1995.

Kumble's indecently cheap five-for came, it's true, after the fate of Rajasthan Royals had all but been sealed, but there was an old-fashioned delight about the way in which he lured Warne down the pitch to his doom.

Both Warne's two wickets had come that way too. And if that didn't convince you his juices are still flowing, the look he gave Billy Doctrove after an lbw decision was turned down - it was missing off stump, Shane - was the kind of outrage that is going out of the game.

Pitches will vary throughout this competition - there are eight venues after all. But by the end of it, we should have a better idea which of India's youngsters will be stealing the headlines in the years ahead. Allan Donald once told me he thought India were "gutless" against him in South African conditions. The national side has won one Test out of 12 here and lost six.

It could be the ones who studied Tendulkar and Dravid most closely yesterday who make it big. Then India really will be grateful this tournament briefly flew the nest.