Without doubt, Sunday was the most entertaining and absorbing day so far in the Indian Premier League by some distance. Or at least that I've seen.

It all started with an appearance by the Dalai Lama, who sipped tea as he enjoyed the Kings XI take on Chennai in the stunning surrounds of Dharamsala - a venue which rivals any in the world for scenery. According to a friend at the ground, His Holiness "meditates during the two-minute advertisement break."

Whether or not this was true, his presence certainly blessed the match because it went down to the wire before MS Dhoni completed the sort of highly-charged Twenty20 chase that makes cricket's shortest format so watchable.

While that was a high-scoring affair on a flat pitch, the second game of the day was played in conditions that made life a bit more difficult for the batsmen. The Kotla wicket may have had its dark days over the past year, but on Sunday it was refreshing to see a more even contest between bat and ball.

Again the tie went down to the final over, with Paul Collingwood gutsing his way to an unbeaten half-century as he kept the match alive long after the Daredevils should have been dead and buried.

So we had two close matches back-to-back, yet this was not why the day's action was gripping for those of us who don't find ourselves engrossed in the IPL on a daily basis.

Rather it was the fact that both games genuinely meant something, with three of the four teams scrapping for a place in the semi-finals.

Herein lies the IPL's greatest fault (at least in cricketing terms! Off-field events have served to suggest that the whole thing could be rotten to the core, but best we reserve comment until the extent of this murkiness is fully known), and the problem is that the whole tournament is too bloody long.

Two of the semi-finalists have qualified by winning seven of their 14 matches. Although that points to a competition which is more balanced than many European football leagues, it also reveals just how many matches lack importance when you only need to win one out of two.

When seven of your matches are not 'must-wins', the tension which accompanied Sunday's ties just doesn't bother to show up, no matter how much Danny Morrison tells you it has. And those sixes, each trumpeted by the appalling commentators as somehow groundbreaking in the sport, become quite meaningless.

The answer to it all is quite simple: cut the season in half. Every team plays each other once - not home and away as is currently the case - and suddenly every match really is crucial. What's more, the end of the season is almost in sight right from the beginning so that tension remains throughout the month required to play it.

Yes, it only takes a month, so suddenly there really is space for ten teams in the league and also for a slot in every Test nation's calendar. Interest outside of India would surely grow as a result, but equally eyeballs around India would be glued to television sets for every match knowing that they can't afford to miss anything.

The moneymen wouldn't agree. But perhaps they could begin to market their product on quality, and not quantity. Finally the commentators might have something worth shouting about.

Now that something's actually on the line, Cricket365 will be running a blow-by-blow commentary on the IPL semi-finals, starting this Wednesday.