The ever-growing popularity of T20 cricket has pushed ODI to the margins of the collective conscious. Initially, T20 was thought of as a mere curtailment of the one-day games, introduced especially for the people who were too busy to devote a whole day for just one game. But times have changed now. In a strange turnaround, the ODI is now nothing more than an extension of the T20I.

Eoin Morgan’s England heralded the format to its new era, where bowlers became nothing more than robotic machines, whose only job in the game was now to get clobbered all around the park ruthlessly. The ebbs and flows that made ODI such an interesting format have long gone out of vogue. The modern ODI games are disproportionately tilted towards the batters.

To stay relevant, the ODI needs to find its own identity, reckons R Ashwin. In Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket club podcast, Ashwin offered interesting insights on the state of the game, and suggested important changes for authorities to keep the flame of ODI ablaze.

“The greatest beauty of one day cricket is – sorry was – the ebbs and flows of the game. People used to bide their time and take the game deep. The one-day format used to be a format where bowlers had a say,” added the 35-year-old. 

Ashwin admitted that he often switches off the game after getting bored of its monotonous nature. Rather than mimicking its shorter format by shortening its boundary and making highway pitches for the batters to feast upon, the format needs to maintain the balance between bat and ball.

“Even me as a cricket badger and a cricket nut, I switch off the TV after a point and that’s frankly very scary for the format of the game. When those ebbs and flows go missing, it’s not cricket anymore. It is just an extended form of T20,” he added. 

“I think one ball is something that would work and spinners would come into the game to bowl more at the back end. Reverse swing might come back in, which is crucial for the game,” concluded Ashwin.

Featured Image: BCCI