With franchise leagues popping up across the country, bilateral cricket faces an existential threat. The future of One Day Internationals is in jeopardy as fans, pundits, and even some players find it hard to justify three-match ODI series.
ICC CEO Sanjoy Gupta echoed these sentiments, saying the era has come to an end, but resources have to be invested to change the current situation.
“The era of randomly scheduled bilateral series has to come to an end, because countries will not be able to sustain cricket without context, culture, competition, and competitiveness, which require significant investment of resources, both financial and non-financial,” Gupta told PTI.
“It’s important to stay focused on the four levers which drive attention and affiliation – context, culture, competition, and competitiveness – and ODIs can continue not just to survive, but thrive,” Gupta added.
“There is a place for the format in the product portfolio, which is inextricably linked to men’s and women’s World Cups. We need to look at what we want the format to stand for and how we want it to evolve, including the expanse of participation,” he concluded.
50-over World Cup revamp
The 50-over World Cup will continue to feature 14 teams; the tournament will adopt a new three-stage competition format intended to ensure meaningful contests from the opening match through to the final.
Under the revised structure, the tournament will begin with a new “Super Series” involving the teams ranked 12th, 13th, and 14th in qualification. These three teams will compete in a round-robin format, with only the winner advancing to the next stage.
The successful team will then join the remaining 11 qualified nations in the second phase, where two groups of six teams will contest 30 matches. The top three teams from each group, along with the next highest-placed team across both groups, will qualify for the newly introduced Super 7 stage.
The Super 7 will see all seven qualifying teams play each other in a single round-robin league comprising 21 matches. The top four teams will progress to the semifinals, with the first-placed side facing the fourth-ranked team and the second-placed side meeting the third-ranked team. The winners will advance to the final.
Previously, the tournament featured two groups of seven teams, with the top three from each group advancing to a Super Six stage before the semifinals.