"In the 2023 World Cup year, India played around 15 T20Is but only 12 ODIs" - Aakash Chopra on the future of ODIs
Aakash Chopra feels ODI cricket is losing its relevance. He highlighted that India played more T20Is than ODIs in the 2023 World Cup year and are playing very few 50-over games heading into the 2025 Champions Trophy.
India will face Bangladesh in a two-match Test series, with the first game starting in Chennai on Thursday, September 19. The Men in Blue will then square off against the Bangla Tigers in three T20Is but will not play any ODIs against them or any other opponents this year.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra cited India's schedule over the last couple of years as an example to point out the drastic fall in the number of ODI games.
"This format is no longer the centerpiece of international cricket it used to be. If you see as an example India's ODI schedule between the 2023 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, we are not playing much. We did play three ODIs against South Africa in December 2023, played three ODIs against Sri Lanka in August 2024, and we will play three ODIs against England in February 2025," he said (4:30).
"It means only nine ODIs will be played in 16 months. In the 2023 World Cup year, India played around 15 T20Is but only 12 ODIs. It says that T20 cricket has started taking precedence in international scheduling and the 50-over format has gone slightly to the background apart from ICC organized events," the former India opener added.
Apart from the Asia Cup, India played a three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia, and the West Indies in 2023 before the ODI World Cup. They have played only six ODIs since the World Cup final loss to Australia, three against South Africa in December 2023 and as many against Sri Lanka last month.
"Administrators have had to change rules repeatedly to keep ODI cricket fresh against Test cricket's stability and T20 cricket's natural excitement" - Aakash Chopra
In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted frequent rule changes have been done in ODI cricket to keep it competitive with the other two formats.
"It's evident that the relevance of 50-over cricket is reducing. It can be understood by the fact that to retain the fans' interest and keep the format competitive, how many times it had to be changed. Administrators have had to change rules repeatedly to keep ODI cricket fresh against Test cricket's stability and T20 cricket's natural excitement," Chopra said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that these changes were done to revive the dwindling interest in ODIs.
"If something has been changed so many times, it means something is wrong, or else you don't fix which ain't broken. Don't ask how many experiments have been done. Consistent changes emphasize that more effort has been required to keep ODI cricket relevant," he observed.
However, Chopra acknowledged that the ODI format is unlikely to disappear for the moment as the 2027 and 2031 World Cups have been scheduled. He suggested that changing ODIs to 40-over games could be an option to enhance the interest but added that the purists might oppose such a move.