One-Day Cricket Is Just A Drag Now, It Is Kind Of Dying - Wasim Akram
Updated - 21 Jul 2022, 12:02 AM
Former Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram said that the 50-over format has quite a few drawbacks and is falling behind in a bid to stay alive during an era defined by the entertainment in T20Is and the resurgence of Test cricket.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes called it quits in ODIs citing it isn’t feasible to be playing all three formats anymore. This sparked a debate on social media, with several claiming that the 50-over format has lost its spark.
“Him deciding that he is retiring from one-day cricket is quite sad but I agree with him. Even as a commentator… one-day cricket is just a drag now, especially after T20. I can imagine as a player. 50 overs, 50 overs, then you have to pre-game, post-game, the lunch game,” Akram said on The Telegraph’s Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast.
“T20 is kind of easier, four hours the game is over. The leagues all around the world, there is a lot more money – I suppose this is part and parcel of modern cricket. T20 or Test cricket. One-day cricket is kind of dying.”
“It is quite tiring for a player to play one-day cricket. After T20, one-day cricket seems it is going for days. So players are focusing more on the shorter format. And longer format obviously [with] Test cricket,” he added.
Should ODI Cricket be scrapped? Wasim Akram thinks so
Akram said that the officials might as well remove the format from the game since the stadiums aren’t full anymore for ODIs apart from a few countries in the sub-continent.
“I think so. In England, you have full houses. In India, Pakistan especially, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, one-day cricket you are not going to fill the stadiums.”
“They are doing it just for the sake of doing it. After the first 10 overs, it’s just ‘OK, just go a run a ball, get a boundary, four fielders in and you get to 200, 220 in 40 overs’ and then have a go last 10 overs. Another 100. It’s kind of run-of-the-mill,” Akram said.
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Wasim Akram
