With the start of the IPL just over a week away, it seemed to me a good time to start banging the drum about how it is a distant irrelevance, poorly reported (in this part of the world), broadcast only on pay-TV, contested by teams with no history and players furiously milking cricket’s new cash cow for all its worth.

But wait … In the wake of today’s announcement that ITV has picked up the rights to show the 2010 tournament, at least some of those criticisms have been rendered void. Is this finally the year to embrace Lalit Modi’s garish monster?

I am a cricket luddite, fearful of change for, apparently, money’s sake. Modi talks of growing the game, “bringing new consumers to cricket”; but I don’t want the sport to become a confection of celebrity and six-hitting, a sugar-rush rather than a substantial meal. If it has to be ‘consumed’ then it should be done so responsibly – preferably with beer and sandwiches while wearing a cagoule.

That the IPL hopes to ape its acronym-a-like the EPL, football’s made-in-England behemoth, sits uneasily with me. Cricket isn’t football, and it’s all the better for it (though I should be clear at this point that I do have a long-standing Premier League team and we’re very happy together).

I’m also suspicious of Modi, as I am of anyone in sport who talks openly and often of revenue streams, franchises and “product”. This sort of quote worries me: “Unfortunately I never get a chance to watch cricket – ever. Even with the IPL I’ve never watched a full match. It’s unfortunate but I’m working and I only get to watch a few small sections of matches.”

Imagine Steve Jobs admitting that he’s never used an iPhone, just fiddled with a couple of apps.

But while I think Modi is more slippery than a buttered eel, I am partial to the odd spot of Twenty20. I’ve been to plenty of matches in our somewhat more parochial domestic cup but maybe it’s now time to go the whole hog, learn the IPL team names properly and start cheering for Ravi, KP and Eoin in their Bollywood pyjamas.

The IPL has its own YouTube channel, streaming the games live everywhere except the US, but I think it’s the ITV deal that could be the clincher. Soccer smoothie Matt Smith will be heading the coverage, with analyst Simon Hughes on board as well. Smith’s co-presenter, Mandira Bedi (pictured above), may also be a good reason to tune in – though one hopes she’s a better-qualified anchor than Laura Esposto of Channel Five’s ill-fated Football Italiano.

Not everyone will be happy, as the deal will only see games shown on ITV4, but that’s about as terrestrial as it gets in this new-media age – and digital is, after all, a lot more accessible than Setanta.

Maybe I’ve been wrong, and cricket fans from Southend to Wallsend have been eagerly gearing up for the 2010 edition regardless. But at least with the tournament more widely on show in England, it will be a chance to justify the hype and maybe win over a few more genuine consumers … sorry, converts.

Alan Gardner is a freelance journalist with guardian.co.uk