Indian cricket team coach Rahul Dravid.
Credit: PTI Photo
With the ICC Men's 50-over World Cup underway, a lot is being debated about the future of One-day Internationals (ODI) whose appeal has been on a steady decline even as T20 cricket's popularity has grown phenomenally.
ODIs have been going through an existential crisis for a few years now as ICC has been trying hard to preserve the primacy of Test cricket and doing everything in its capacity to meet the demand for T20s. In a clear sign of diminishing importance, a look at various bilateral series shows us that teams have inked more T20Is than ODIs.
Logically, ODIs, with a blend of Test cricket's ebb and flow and T20 cricket's "bazball" (if you like), should have continued to remain relevant, but a combination of factors has rendered them boring which may lead to their extinction if left unaddressed.
Rahul Dravid, considered an "unfit" for the limited-overs version at the start of his career, eventually went on to become one of ODI's finest batters, compiling over 10,000 runs in the format. His fondness for the format was apparent.
"We haven't played a lot of 50-overs cricket over the last couple of years, that's one of the things that I've kind of noticed over the last couple of years that I've been the coach of the team," Dravid, clad in fluorescent saffron training t-shirt, noted when asked about the future of ODIs.
"Because there were two T20 World Cups that happened and there's always the World Test Championship at the back of every team that you're doing, it's a cycle that goes on...Going forward, I think it's still an important format, it's a fantastic format to play. Obviously how much of it is played will be decided by a variety of factors... Obviously with more and more T20 cricket being added on to the calendar, it'll make it difficult to have potentially the same number of one-day games that you probably are used to have seen between the 2015 and 2019 calendar, I don't think we'll ever go back to those days but I sincerely hope that we still keep valuing and playing this format because...
"Just to give you an example, the (Mohammed) Siraj's spell in the Asia Cup final, I mean that was really top-class bowling of six overs. In a T20 game you never see that, you would've bowled one or two overs or maybe three overs on a good day. But here you got to see a full gamut of his skills and his abilities which I think one-day cricket allows you to do that, allows you to see great spells, it still allows you to see good innings like that we saw from both those left-handers (Conway and Ravindra), it allows to you see a lot of good spin, rotation of strike and a lot of creativity. As a coach and as someone who loves the game of cricket, I want to see this format thrive and do well."
Deviating from the topic, Dravid was asked if he felt as tense as when he was a player and the head coach was clear that it was the captain's team once the game began.
"Yeah... I mean I guess you recognise as a coach that once the game starts, once the guys cross the line, there's only so much you can do," he began. "As coaches we don't score a single run or take a single wicket in the tournament. All we can do is really support the players. A lot of our work, to be very honest with you, is in the days in the lead up to these games. It's in the practice sessions... hopefully the kind of mindspace we get the people in and supporting the captain and the team in whatever we can in the lead up.
"Honestly once the game starts, it's the captain's team. It's the team that needs to take it forward, they need to execute it, they need to do the job. Really, as a coach I see my work in the lead up to the games, in the lead up to this World Cup, trying to get the squad we got eventually. Building up the team, building up the squad and then hoping to allow the players to really play and express themselves to have a fun tournament."