'Who has seven hours to spare?' - Ajay Jadeja weighs in on relevance of ODIs

Former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja explained the influence of broadcasters and media rights on the popularity of the format while responding to the discussions over the future of the ODI format. Notably, Ben Stokes retired from ODI cricket at the age of 31 recently, opting to concentrate on Test and T20I formats, which have now raised a lot of concerns over the 50-over format.

As the matter of fact, Test cricket has survived and looks promising in the current era. However, the arrival of the T20 format has put the ODIs on the backfoot, and the cricketers have found it tough to manage the workload in three formats. Recently, former cricketers Ravi Shastri and Shahid Afridi suggested for a reduction from 50 overs to 40 in ODIs to ensure that the format remains interesting.

Whichever gets the higher media rights that gets more popularity: Ajay Jadeja

Jadeja noted the previous era when the number of Tests was quite few to the introduction of ODI cricket and explained that the broadcasters found the 50-over format quite lucrative. He went on to highlight the importance of media rights having a direct impact on the popularity of the format.

“There was a time when ODI cricket had arrived and then lesser Test matches were being played because that is again, more productive for the players, broadcasters and for the association. Broadcasters play a key role. If you notice, whichever gets the higher media rights that gets more popularity. ODI was expensive at one point of time. Then T20 came,” Jadeja told while Speaking to Fan Code during the second ODI between India and West Indies.

He reckoned that the media rights have increased for T20Is once they were introduced and added that Test cricket will not be impacted due to this. He concluded with a cheeky comment stating, that who would spare seven hours for a match when T20 gets over in three.

“Now their rights have increased and hence ODIs are being played less. But Test will forever remain. In fact, India are playing more Test match now than they played 20-30 years back. But ODI…7 ghante kiske paas he agar saare teen ghante me kaam chalta he?”.