"They Didn't Want To Say It But Everybody Knew Bilateral ODI Cricket Is Struggling" - Aakash Chopra

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra spoke up on the debate surrounding the relevancy of the ODI format following the sudden retirement of England’s premier all-rounder, Ben Stokes.

Stokes bid adieu to the 50-over format as he felt playing all three formats wasn’t sustainable. Generally, cricketers sacrifice either Tests or T20Is but Stokes’ decision has put the spotlight on ODIs, which has lost its hold over cricket in recent times.

“Ben Stokes has bid goodbye to ODI cricket at just 31 years of age. We have been saying for many years that ODI is the format that is struggling because there are problems. If problems are not there, you won’t have so many rule changes – two balls, powerplay, super sub, and what not.”

“There is more noise being created during bilateral series now. They didn’t want to say that but everybody knew bilateral ODI cricket is struggling. There is a lot of excitement when the World Cup happens once in four years, it was there in 2019 as well and will be there in 2023 also,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“Commercial angle is T20, legacy angle is Test, ODI is hanging somewhere in between” – Aakash Chopra

The pressure on ODIs increased after sporting boards decided to start their own T20 league in order to boost their financial revenues. Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) are the latest to start such ventures.

“Michael Vaughan has said that something has to give. Every country wants their T20 league, when a player is playing, these are his primary years, whether it is the IPL or any other league, you get a lot of money. After that, all cricketers consider Test cricket very dear because they want to leave a legacy.”

“The commercial angle is T20 cricket, the legacy angle is Test match cricket, ODI is hanging somewhere in between. So it is getting slightly easier to leave ODI cricket, not so much in terms of workload management because we have seen people leave Tests as well, but it has fallen slightly behind in terms of priority,” Chopra added.

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