Is ODI Cricket Losing Its Relevance?

[vanshdarji]

One Day Internationals were once the heart of cricket, producing legendary run chases, unforgettable World Cup moments, and players who became global icons. Today, however, the 50-over format struggles to hold attention, caught between the tradition of Test cricket and the fast-paced spectacle of T20 leagues. With bilateral ODI series often feeling like filler matches and fan engagement declining, the question arises: are ODIs still meaningful in modern cricket, or is the format slowly losing its place in the sport’s calendar?

 

[TheJediBrah]

Thread is about a decade late, but yes

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

One Day Internationals were once the heart of cricket, producing legendary run chases, unforgettable World Cup moments, and players who became global icons. Today, however, the 50-over format struggles to hold attention, caught between the tradition of Test cricket and the fast-paced spectacle of T20 leagues. With bilateral ODI series often feeling like filler matches and fan engagement declining, the question arises: are ODIs still meaningful in modern cricket, or is the format slowly losing its place in the sport’s calendar?

Reasons for its decline is due to several reasons I reckon...

1.List A cricket is not played as much as it used to be in the past in most parts of the World , so now you have T20 players trying to figure out 50 over cricket at international level.

2.The best players are often rested or skip bilateral series unless it's a World Cup year.

3.T20 Cricket is the main attraction for the general public, it has the money , the players, the marketing, the prize gimmicks that ODI cricket cannot compete with.

 

[Coronis]

Yes. Nobody cares about it outside of the WC.

 

[shortpitched713]

ODI cricket, is in some ways the best format. Too ****ing bad about the T20 lark becoming such a thing. I literally can never bother thinking about a T20, outside of the World Cup for that event, whereas it's always neat to tune into an ODI, because each match is an actual story in it's own right.

 

[capt_Luffy]

ODI cricket, is in some ways the best format. Too ****ing bad about the T20 lark becoming such a thing. I literally can never bother thinking about a T20, outside of the World Cup for that event, whereas it's always neat to tune into an ODI, because each match is an actual story in it's own right.

From this moment you are excommunicado from CW

 

[Chin Music]

I think the absolute gluttony of matches in the early 00s did for it, when you had sometimes 7 series matches at a time when t20 domestic games were starting to become popular.

 

[slowfinger]

If it were up to me I'd have always scrapped 20 over cricket and done whole-day 40-45 or 50 over cricket across the board. But it's got to the point where the ODI and List A schedule just cloggs up space and you get people like Overton needing to choose between the Ashes or the next franchise tournament due to his "fitness concerns". So something needs to go, there's just too much cricket

 

[Coronis]

If it were up to me I'd have always scrapped 20 over cricket and done whole-day 40-45 or 50 over cricket across the board. But it's got to the point where the ODI and List A schedule just cloggs up space and you get people like Overton needing to choose between the Ashes or the next franchise tournament due to his "fitness concerns". So something needs to go, there's just too much cricket

I think I might’ve preferred ODIs too.

But in some ways, I think T20 + Tests is more ideal.

We have the original format of the game, with the most skill, nuance and strategy, as well as the fast paced, “exciting” and definitely more appealing to the masses. It brings in the money and brings the game to a more reasonable timeframe for viewers. Even ODIs are what, 7-8 hours for an entire game? Which is pretty crazy compared to other popular sports.

 

[ankitj]

From this moment you are excommunicado from CW

 

[Daemon]

ODIs are a terrible product made watchable due to cricket being awesome

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Never liked 50 over cricket anyway, honest!

 

[Ali TT]

Morgan's England took the game to it's zenith in the late 2010s and the format should be retrospectively retired from the point after the 2019WC final and all subsequent records expunged.

 

[krickmam]

I don’t think ODIs are losing relevance completely.
Big tournaments like the World Cup still create massive interest, but the regular bilateral series don’t attract the same hype anymore.
Maybe fewer, but more meaningful ODIs could help keep the format strong.

 

[Ali TT]

I don’t think ODIs are losing relevance completely.
Big tournaments like the World Cup still create massive interest, but the regular bilateral series don’t attract the same hype anymore.
Maybe fewer, but more meaningful ODIs could help keep the format strong.

The loss of tours that would include an ODI and a test series hasn't helped as all the ODI series now seem to happen at random. Playing 3 ODIs before a home Ashes series felt like a good appetiser. However, as @Chin Music says we then had overkill as series extended to 7 matches, often at the end of tours, that just dragged on. Then standalone 7 match series etc.

I'm still an advocate that for tours that are less high profile, the women's approach of having multi-format scoring to decide the series winners should be used.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Morgan's England took the game to it's zenith in the late 2010s and the format should be retrospectively retired from the point after the 2019WC final and all subsequent records expunged.

Well, something else should be retrospectively altered related to the 2019 WC final imo

 

[Ali TT]

Well, something else should be retrospectively altered related to the 2019 WC final imo

Yes, scrubbing all moans from the losing side

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Yes, scrubbing all moans from the losing side

No one lost. It was a tie. Twice

 

[sledger]

Assumed this thread had been dug/bumped from about 10-15 years ago when I first saw the title.

 

[shortpitched713]

I literally can't think of anything contained within a T20 match, which isn't also contained in an ODI, except all that and more!