Ravi Shastri Gives a Bold Statement About the Future of Limited-Overs Cricket

Amidst the increasing popularity of T20 franchise cricket, there constantly goes on a debate regarding the future of other formats. India’s former coach Ravi Shastri has come up with suggestions to keep the ODIs and T20Is in demand despite excessive cricket. Several players in the past have acknowledged that playing all 3 formats takes a toll on them, while for some they’ve started losing interest.

During the discussion during the day 4 of the fourth Border-Gavaskar trophy, Ravi Shastri spoke about the measures to keep One-day cricket relevant. Ravi Shastri also discussed domestic leagues and T20 cricket in his remarks. He claimed that the T20 format is crucial for the growth of the game since it can generate a significant amount of money necessary to support the game.

Ravi Shastri says ODI cricket should be reduced to 40 overs

“For One Day cricket to survive, I think it should be reduced to forty over game in future, and the reason I say this is because when we won the World cup in 1983, it was a 60 over game. Then the attention span of the people diminished and it became a fifty-over game. I think the time has come for it to become now a 40-over game. Evolve with the times. Reduce the format. T20 format I think is the key. It is the injection the game needs to evolve. It’s the cash cow for the sport,” Ravi Shastri said.

Furthermore, speaking about the bilateral series, Ravi Shastri added that the bilateral series should be reduced. He acknowledged that there are several T20 leagues going around the world in order to keep up with the format and the bilateral series should take place right before the World Cup. Ravi Shastri concluded by stating that test cricket will always remain important in places like India as well as other big countries like Australia. One-and-a-half-month-long Border-Gavaskar trophy came to an end with India winning it 2-1. India will take on Australia in a 3-match ODI series starting March 17. Additionally, the two teams will also face each other in the World Test Championship finals.