With cricket World Cup, ODIs will briefly return from no-man's land

The tournament that begins on October 5 will turn the spotlight on the 50-over format, which is facing an existential crisis in the T20-dominated ecosystem

No Indian cricketer has ever run as swiftly as Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In a cruel quirk of fate, as the former Indian captain dashed for the second run on that ill-fated day at Old Trafford in England four summers ago, he would have known that it was over. 

Martin Guptill’s bullet throw from deep backward square leg caught Dhoni inches short of the crease, which ended India’s 2019 World Cup campaign. The tournament favourites would go down to New Zealand in the semifinal.

The rewind is excruciating and cathartic.

Over the next 45 days, beginning October 5, India will embark on another emotional rollercoaster as the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup caravan chugs along 10 venues spanning the length and breadth of the country.

The showpiece ICC event will offer a chance to those who have been feasting on the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other T20 leagues that have mushroomed around the globe to re-acquaint themselves with the 50-over format that has been in decline.

In this age of instant gratification and shortening attention spans, people remember One-Day Internationals (ODIs) only when the World Cup is around the corner.

Former Indian wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik had famously remarked, “Test cricket is like art movies and T20 is commercial cinema. ODIs are present in no man’s land.” 

Cricket writer and broadcaster Geoff Lemon summed up the existential crisis of ODIs succinctly in his podcast, “The Final Word Cricket".  

“The 50-over cricket is like that group of friends whom you don’t meet for a few years, and then when you catch up with them, you say: ‘Oh, this was great. We had a great time, and we should meet more often.”’

“However, that does not happen. Once it is (ODIs) happening in front of us, we like it, but we really do not think much about it when it is not happening,” he added.

The administrators must be held responsible for failing to resuscitate this format, while allowing the proliferation of T20 franchises around the world.

Former England captain Michael Atherton warned that cricket has reached the “tipping point” since the advent of the IPL.

In 15 years since its inception, the IPL has rapidly burgeoned to become the second-richest sports tournament in the world after the National Football League (NFL) in the United States on per-game valuation.

“Cricket has undergone a massive transformation in the first two decades of this century than any other time in its history, and it will continue to change in the future,” he told Sky Sports.

Atherton cited South Africa’s decision to cancel the three-match bilateral ODI series against Australia last year so that they could set up their T20 league along the lines of the IPL.

The fact that South Africa was doing it at the cost of possibly squandering the chance to directly qualify for this year’s 50-over World Cup worried Atherton even more.

Thankfully, South Africa made the cut.

Growing imbalance

Nevertheless, this illustrated the growing imbalance of power between franchise cricket and international cricket.

In July, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), long known as the custodians of the game, suggested doing away with bilateral ODIs other than in the year preceding the World Cup.

Their argument was that given the deluge of franchise T20 tournaments, something had to give, and bilateral ODIs were the obvious casualties.

The biggest blow from this congested calendar was England’s Test captain Ben Stokes announcing his retirement from ODIs last year.

The all-rounder cited a demanding workload as a multi-format player. However, this August, the 32-year-old said he was coming out of retirement to have one final shot at England’s defence of the 50-over World Cup title.

MSK Prasad, former chairman of India’s national selection committee, reckoned that a player of Stokes’ stature can pick and choose his tournaments.

“Stokes does not need to feature in every bilateral ODIs. He is a match-winner, and must play in marquee tournaments like the World Cup,” Prasad told Business Standard. 

“Going forward, we will see more single-format players because it is not sustainable to play in all three formats,” he added.

‘Cricket going the football way’

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes Test cricket would withstand the onslaught from franchise cricket. He expects cricket to go the football way.

“The teams will assemble just before the World Cups, play a bit of bilaterals, and the clubs will release the players ahead of the mega World Cup. So, it’s going to go that way, whether you like it or not,” Shastri told ESPNcricinfo.

For those who grew up in India in the 1990s and the early aughts, the first brush with ODIs was the triangular series in Australia.

Waking up to the grating shrieks of the alarm on a cold winter morning, you knew you were in for a treat listening to Richie Benaud and Bill Lawry on commentary.

The triangular series, a hitherto recurring feature of the Australian cricketing summer since the 1970s, is now part of nostalgia – relegated to Channel 9’s sepia-tinted archives.

Australia’s administrators say dwindling spectator interest put paid to the triangular series. Fans call it “corporate greed” for promoting the Big Bash, Australia’s home-grown T20 league.

Cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar suggested dividing an ODI match into four innings of 25 overs each, rather than having two of 50 overs. He argued that this would break the monotony and reignite interest in this format.

Only with the sharpest of cricketing minds can a solution be found.

Is the ICC listening?

Match points

Five players to watch for

Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan): Brilliant exponent of swing and seam. Can generate searing pace. Terrifying prospect in the death overs

Shubman Gill (India): In a team boasting a constellation of batting superstars, Gill’s crisp strokeplay at the top of the order could be the key to India’s destiny in this World Cup

Mark Wood (England): X-factor in the England team. Can conjure frightening pace, in excess of 150 kmph

Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa): Brilliant against spin, and the finisher South Africa have been looking for since AB de Villiers

Hardik Pandya (India): The perfect finisher with the bat and a potent first-change seamer

Prize money

Winners: $4 million

Runners-up: $2 million