For years now, since the 20-over format caught fire and captured the imagination and attention of cricket lovers globally, flowery obituaries have been written about its longer white-ball counterpart. Somehow, 50-over cricket has managed to wean itself off life support, even if it continues to totter on trembling, unsteady legs.
The mushrooming popularity of what was once considered a hit-and-giggle variant is a classic example of cricket cannibalising itself. Authorities in England were compelled more than two decades ago to resort to ‘gimmickry’ to bring back audiences apathetic to the dwindling charms of one-day cricket. Hence the recourse to 20-overs-a-side; they called it ‘cricketainment’, cramming cricket and entertainment in a three-and-a-half-hour package where bowler-bashing played itself out on loop.
Few would have expected at that stage that T20 cricket would become as popular as it has. Much of it has to do with India, like most things in the last few years seem to. India’s ultimate success at the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007, just months before the start of the Indian Premier League, set in motion a chain of events that has inexorably altered the dynamics of cricket.
Despite the doomsday pundits, Test cricket has managed to hold its own even though few matches spill over to the fifth day. There is still interest in the players for the classic confrontation between bat and ball, a contest marked by non-stop ebbs and flows. The length of the game gives teams the chance to fight back from positions of weakness, a luxury seldom available in 20-over cricket. Notwithstanding their recent home travails, India has been a staunch advocate of the five-day iteration, with their two immediate past captains, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, respectively, setting themselves up as its willing and voluntary brand ambassadors.
It is around this crack duo that the latest debate on the feasibility of sustaining interest in 50-over cricket has been triggered by Ravichandran Ashwin, the retired off-spinner who has a strong opinion on all things cricket. Ashwin has questioned what many have been doing for several years now – the relevance of the 50-over format at a time when T20 leagues across the world are dotting the landscape. He has – typical Ashwin – also affixed a timeframe for D-day, the 2027 World Cup in the Africas, confident in his belief that Rohit, 38, and Kohli, 37, will play in that tournament. He has declared that the format ‘is going towards slow death.’
There is no disputing any of those facts. The one-day game itself was born out of necessity, the mother of invention, truly springing to life when Kerry Packer introduced ‘pyjama cricket’, complete with glitzy uniforms, black sightscreens, white balls, and matches under lights, captivating audiences. England played 60-over and then 55- and 40-over matches, the rest of the world stuck to 50 overs. It wasn’t until the World Cup moved out of England after India’s unexpected, magical triumph in the third edition in 1983 that one-day internationals were standardised to 50 overs, though England briefly did continue to dabble with 55. Is it, therefore, any surprise that they had to wait until 2019 for their first 50-over World Cup triumph?
ODIs, once a refreshing change, now heading towards a dead end
The one-day match was a relief from the tedium of dull and boring Test cricket, where the onus was decidedly on not losing rather than on winning. Flat, slow tracks in India and Pakistan, especially, made for attritional viewing, so ODIs came as a breath of fresh air and continued to remain so until T20s first, and then T10s and now The Hundred in England, threw up other quick-fix avenues that showed up the 50-over game for what it was – a backfiring, run-down jalopy in the world of sleek, turbo-charged behemoths.
Bilateral 50-over contests lack sufficient context, resulting in large, empty stadiums in most countries when India isn’t one of the competing teams. Players themselves are resigned to seven and a bit hours of drudgery, going through the motions in the knowledge that they are merely doing the broadcasters’ bidding. For broadcasters, 50-over cricket used to be a godsend, given the numerous opportunities they had to insert commercials. However, with TV viewership also dropping, the format is no longer the attractive cash cow it once was.
Constant rule changes haven’t helped. Invariably, all of them have tended to favour the batters, which makes for 100 overs of trading heavy punches. When the same drama is packaged in three and a half hours, why would anyone want to spend twice that much time? Simple arithmetic and effective time management.
The World Cup is another beast altogether, clearly a crowd-puller and a show-stopper, but how long can the flagship event continue to prop up an otherwise dull, predictable, dreary unfolding of action? It didn’t need for Ashtronaut (Ravi Shastri’s gift) to set off alarm bells, but when someone like Ashwin – passionately devoted to the sport — makes endgame predictions, you know that happy days are over.
