World Cup 2023: ODI format faces existential question as tournament kicks off

On the eve of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, all 10 skippers of the participating teams gathered at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the Captain’s Day, which in many ways also officially kicked off the latest edition of the world tournament. Over the next 45 days, 48 matches will be played across 10 venues in a cricket-crazy country to find a new world champion. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table Under normal circumstances, Captain’s Day would have been the toast of the town, dominating every news portal, social media, and our personal conversations. But that wasn’t the case last evening. In a cricket-mad country, the eyes were firmly fixed on Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra who was taking part in the men’s javelin throw final at Hangzhou in Asian Games 2023. Be rest assured, the cricket fever will win us over once defending champions England take to the field in the opener against New Zealand in what is a repeat of the 2019 final — arguably one of the best ODIs played at the marquee event, but the lack of enthusiasm leading into the World Cup underlines the crammed and confused cricketing calendar. The ODI World Cup for a very long time was the pinnacle of the sport but one can now easily argue that the same is not the case. The cricketing ecosystem and the calendar have developed and been disrupted so significantly in the last four years that what’s next for the ODI format and the World Cup is essentially unclear. Just a few days back the incoming president of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Mark Nicholas, in a conversation with ESPNCricinfo suggested for ODIs to be only played at the World Cup. “We believe strongly that ODIs should be World Cups only. We think it’s difficult bilaterally now to justify them. They’re not filling grounds in a lot of countries. And there is a power at the moment to T20 cricket that is almost supernatural. “In a free market, the most money wins. And that’s just the end-game. The players can see that bubbling away and they want to be a part of it. So, it is an extraordinary power that T20 has, and I think scheduling 50-over cricket alongside it just continues the story of the death knell of the ODI game,” he said. In a different era, Nicholas’ comments would have been considered blasphemous, but in 2023 you can be forgiven for relating to what the former broadcaster said. Since the last edition of the ODI World Cup in England and Wales in 2019, cricket has witnessed an unprecedented rise in T20 franchise cricket leagues just as the old ones keep getting bolder. England has launched The Hundred. South Africa now have SA20. UAE runs the International League T20 (ILT20) which despite not having List A Status attracted some of the biggest names in the game. Add to this the numerous T10 leagues which offer a lucrative opportunity for players to make big bucks in a quick time.

Eyes are on the prize ahead of the @cricketworldcup 💥#CWC23 pic.twitter.com/xH7KBTEHSI

— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) October 4, 2023

No wonder the enthusiasm is down leading into the World Cup. First of all, there’s been so much cricket on offer recently that you hardly have time to miss the game. And even if it was mostly the T20Is, in a fast-moving world, the ODIs seem to have gone out of fashion. It’s, however, not to say that the format doesn’t have its own fans. With India hosting the World Cup, we can still expect thousands of fans to flock the stadiums across those 10 venues, for those 48 matches, delivering a World Cup, high on quality action and fandom. But the real question is, is it sustainable? Even the ICC is unsure, hence the ODI Super League which served as a qualification process for the 2023 World Cup is being scrapped. The 13-team league guaranteed eight three-match ODI series for a team and provided context to bilateral contests. But now the majority of teams for the 2027 World Cup will be picked on the basis of rankings. The scrapping of the Super League only means fewer ODIs as cricket boards struggle to fit in franchise cricket, T20Is, ODIs, and Tests into their calendars. With T20Is emerging as the biggest money spinner and fans’ favourite and the Test having the weight of tradition and the World Test Championship behind it, it’s only logical that ODIs would suffer the most. Maybe ODIs would become what Nicholas called for — a format for World Cups to be held in four years. And whether we like it or not, we won’t be able to say, we didn’t see it coming.