The Decision Review System (DRS)

Now a regular in all ICC events as well as T20 leagues like the IPL, the DRS was still finding its feet in early 2009, having first been trialed in August 2008. Though some experts and pundits had then questioned if the technology was foolproof enough to be given a go, the DRS invariably gained importance and popularity with the usage of Real Time Snicko (RTS), Hotspot, and Ball-tracker in detecting dismissals. Even India, who were concerned about its accuracy in its infant days, are now a regular users of the same, even utilizing the DRS in IPL 2018.

World Test Championship (WTC)

After much ado regarding the sliding fortunes of Test cricket, the ICC finally started with the World Test Championship (WTC) this year. With the Ashes in England, the WTC officially took off with the top nine sides in the world competing over 72 Tests across 27 series culminating in the final in 2021. The urgency was for Test cricket to gain more context in bilateral series with both limited-overs formats having their respective World Cups to show. And though Pakistan have started the WTC with a 0-2 thrashing in Australia, an emotional return to their own soil could be an incentive to overturn their fate in the Championship.

Day-night Tests

Yet another impending issue to push for encouraging crowds in the stands, the concept of day-night Test cricket saw the light of day in 2015. The Adelaide Oval staged the first Test under lights – which thus meant a change in color of the ball to pink – when Australia hosted New Zealand. While the latest experiment still has to counter the effect of dew in the sub-continent among other things, landing at the ground after the day's work has enthralled fans and followers across the globe. Pakistan, meanwhile, has tasted two losses and a win in day-night Tests, having recently offered Bangladesh a pink ball Test in Karachi in January 2020.

T20 international status to all member nations

In April 2018, the ICC put almost half the world on the T20 map when all its members were granted T20 status, thus ballooning the number of teams to play international T20s from 18 to 104. Geoff Allardice, the ICC’S General Manager of cricket, had then told ESPNcricinfo that the purpose was to count all results between all national teams that play T20 cricket. "The idea of status and rankings is to say to them that the results will count and the results will go towards improving your ranking," Allardice had said.

Booming T20 leagues and globetrotting cricketers

India's unexpected triumph in the inaugural World T20 in 2007 gave birth to the IPL, which in turn acted as the catalyst for trillions of other T20 leagues to come. The BBL, CPL, BPL, PSL, MSL...phew! That aside, concepts like T10 and The Hundred have also emerged to further the threat to ODI and Test cricket. As a result, players like Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, and Rashid Khan have become T20 experts, plying their trade in one league after the other, while enjoying hefty salaries across the world. While this has led to more interaction and free exchanges among international players, its long-term impact remains to be seen.