Packed calendars, broadcaster demands and financial considerations. These are the catchphrases in modern-day international cricket, lent credence by World Cup champions Australia and finalists India locking horns in a five-match Twenty20 International face-off exactly four nights—that’s right— after their grand showdown in Ahmedabad.

Neither side would understandably be at full strength. Australia’s original squad—since reshuffled—had two-thirds of the 15 which lifted the World Cup for a staggering sixth time, India rested two-thirds of those who mounted a stirring campaign which ended in heartbreak. Even with the next T20 World Cup six months away, this series wasn’t expected to attract too much attention, but clearly, no one had told the audiences in Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Raipur that.