5 Changes that can help reinvigorate ODI cricket

The 2015 cricket World Cup, played in Australia and New Zealand, could have been a watershed moment for One-Day International (ODI) cricket. Prior to the marquee tournament, interest in this form of the game was waning rapidly. Hopes were, hence, being laid on the World Cup to help infuse some much-needed impetus the format needed. That, sadly, wasn’t really to be.

Although the tournament was followed avidly by cricket hungry fans, it couldn’t really raise the bar of ODI cricket as a whole. For save New Zealand’s gallant act throughout the championship, there were very few things that one thoroughly enjoyed in the event. Mammoth scores were made, bowlers were plundered ruthlessly for bucketful of runs and several one-sided contests drained the enthusiasm of the fans. So in all, the World Cup too followed the same pattern that ODI cricket has been following these past few years.

There are a number of ODI matches being played currently that are turning out to be bland and boring affairs; failing to generate any genuine interest from global cricket fans. At the same time, T20 cricket has made its way into the hearts of people and is steadily rising the popularity charts globally with each passing season. For ODI cricket to remain alive and kicking it needs some novel modifications that can help revive it; we can’t have a laissez-faire attitude towards it anymore. Let us then look at some changes in this format that the panjandrums of world cricket should consider.

1. Splitting matches into 25-over per innings:

This has been a long considered idea, going as far as six years back, but, for some reason, never sees light of the day. The formula of this idea is pretty simple: instead of batting for 50 overs, each team will instead get to bat for two innings of 25 overs; taking the same method that a Test match does. There are a lot of productive uses of this method. For one, it will nullify the advantage or disadvantage any team gets by bowling second in day-night ODIs. Secondly, it will also force captains and players to think out of the box and bring in new strategies for victory. And more importantly, it will bring in some much needed air of uncertainty ODI matches which are heavily one-sided these days. The idea has its fair share of backers and detractors. But it needs to be genuinely tried out once to at least see if it can be successful.