Ravi Shastri backs Shahid Afridi’s decision to trim ODI format to 40 overs a side: A few years back, the governing body of cricket and officials were worried about the existence of long-format Test cricket amid rising T20 leagues across the globe, however, now things have taken a sharp turn as ODI cricket has become the most inefficient and time-consuming format of cricket. The major setback for the format was when Ben Stokes announced his retirement from the format to focus on the other two formats due to heavily packed international scheduling.
Since, the 2019 ODI World Cup, which New Zealand won, the ODI format was neglected by all the cricket boards as the next World Cup was far (in 2023) and focused primarily on the T20Is and the tests. Owing to this, the 50-over game has now become a dull format to watch.
However, Ravi Shastri, a former Indian coach, has an interesting approach to making the game attractive even in ODI cricket. Shastri reiterated former Pakistani skipper, Shahid Afridi’s word of trimming the format to 40 overs.
Shastri during commentary for the second ODI between West Indies and India said that there is no harm in making a game interesting by trimming a few overs.
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“There is no harm in shortening the span of the game. When one-day cricket started, it was of 60 overs. When we won the World Cup in 1983, it was of 60 overs. After that, people thought that 60 overs were a bit too long. People found that span of overs between 20 to 40 hard to digest. So they reduced it from 60 to 50. So years have gone by now since that decision so why not reduce it from 50 to 40 now. Because you got to be forward-thinking and evolve. It stayed for 50 for too long,” he said.
Former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi was on the same lines as Ravi Shastri with a view to shorten the ODI format.
“One-day cricket has become quite boring now. I would suggest to cut ODI cricket from 50 overs to 40 overs in order to make it entertaining,” said Shahid Afridi during an interview with Samaa TV earlier.
