Master Blaster speaks up on what’s ailing the ODI Format
Mumbai: Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar has recommended ODI modifications that might revive the excitement of the game. Tendulkar is largely considered as the best batsman to have ever played the game.
He amassed 18426 runs in 463 ODIs and fired 49 hundreds.
In the meanwhile, the ODI format has suffered due to the introduction of T20 cricket and the rebirth of Test cricket via the World Test Championship.
In order for ODI cricket to compete with the other two forms, several former players and fans have felt that it has become a little monotonous.
The Master Blaster argued that the usage of two new balls every innings removes reverse swing from the game, leading him to claim that the ODI has become repetitive.
It’s obvious that it’s becoming boring. Two new balls make up the present format, which has been in place for a time (per innings). You have essentially done away with reverse swing when you have two fresh balls. Even though the game is 40 overs long, that ball is just in its 20th over. In the 30th over, the ball just begins to reverse,” Tendulkar observed at the India Today Conclave.
The game is lagging from the 15th to the 40th over, according to the great hitter.
“Today’s game lacks that component (reverse swing) since there are two new balls. I believe there are too many bowlers in the present arrangement. The game is now getting much too predictable. It starts to lose steam from the fifteenth over to the forty-first. It’s becoming monotonous.
“Thus, both teams bowl in the first and the second half. As there would be three innings breaks rather than two, it is also more financially feasible, he said.
Tendulkar believes that spitting on the ball should be allowed once again in competition.
“I am not a medical specialist, but I believe it (saliva) should be reinstated since it has occurred for more than 100 years. Men have spat, but nothing negative has occurred. The intervening years were difficult, and it was correct to make the choice (to outlaw the use of saliva to polish the ball), but now it’s (Covid-19) in the past, according to Tendulkar.
