Former South Africa player Jonty Rhodes said while there could be fewer bilateral ODI series in the future, it’s difficult to imagine cricket without the 50-over format. “When T20 cricket first started, people were saying it is going to put pressure on Test cricket and amazingly it has not. Some of the Test cricket looks like T20 at times, there is some aggressive batting and bowling,” Rhodes told the media during the jersey launch of European T20 Premier League (ETPL) team Rotterdam Dockers.
“For me, it is always understanding that 50-overs cricket might be the one format where — because we bring in such a fresh crowd and a different perspective into the game — possibly 50-overs cricket might be in trouble in the years ahead. From a point of view, we’re really fortunate that what 50-overs cricket has is that you’ve got really passionate fans who will support their team no matter what format or version it is. At this stage, I think there will be fewer and fewer bilateral series… but it is very difficult to think of cricket without the 50-over version,” he added.
Earlier this year, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had said that while T20s were here to stay, the future of the ODIs are up in the air.
“Look, I think there’s an Olympics that’s going to happen in a couple of years. And if cricket as a game is pretty serious about making it a global affair, the teams in this league will play a very crucial part in enabling that,” Ashwin said to PTI.
“Our job will be purely on T20 cricket and how it can get better. And if the game has to become global and it has to become an Olympic sport, the shorter the game, the more viable it is. And that’s how it’s going to become much bigger. And you will see a better sample size of players, which is also very critical for several of these leagues which run through the year. T20 as a sport is here to stay. I’m not too sure about ODI cricket,” he added.
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