One Day Internationals in danger !

Now a days, ODIs are getting kind of boring. Is it fully because of T20?

Well; it is more to do with the inheritance of certain characteristics of T20 that people are beginning to lose interest in it.

T20 is only 20 percent cricket!! It is all about entertainment and very less “proper cricket” is involved. Lasting 20 overs with 11 people in the team should be no problem at all. People just walk in and go bang bang bang. Its all about power and aggression. It does attract a lot of audience, I do enjoy it as well, but it is just not “proper cricket”.

ODI cricket is all about handling pressure. Its about scoring lots of runs in the first 15 to 20 overs , consolidating from overs 20 – 40 and accelerating towards the end. It does require a lot of ability and planning.

Why would you need free hits in ODIs? There is a form of the game exclusively for entertainment; so why mix it with ODIs?

There used to be a time when 220 in 50 overs was competitive; and 280, more often than not, was a winning total. But now, if you do not get more than 300 runs in your allotted 50 overs, you are in trouble. All this is because of the 5 extra fielding restriction overs. Fielding captains have an option of choosing the second and third powerplay overs. Very rarely do they take advantage of it; they prefer to take it at a stretch from overs 1-20;unless the batsmen are going totally berserk. So what is really the effect of all this?Nothing. Instead of the earlier 15, you now have 20, which only frustrates the bowlers more.

So, it would be better, if there are only 15overs of fielding restrictions and NO FREE HITS in ODIs. However, changing the ball after 35 overs is a good move.

Moreover,there are far too many bilateral series matches being played;where have the triangulars and quadrangulars, which used to be played so often in the 90s at places like Sharjah gone?More such matches,bigger and better tournaments involving more teams at neutral venues must be played,to keep more people interested.

People say Test cricket is threatened because T20 cricket. That’s not the case. Test cricket is the most beautiful form of the game and will remain so forever. It is one day cricket that is threatened more because of these T20s;and the ODIs do need a revamp. When people can watch a match lasting just 3 hours, why would they sit for 7 hours to watch something similar, just lasting longer?

Cheers

Aswath