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