Stuck in the middle

A number of cricketers,both past and present,have voiced their suggestions about revamping ODI cricket,and all eyes are now trained on the Champions Trophy — scheduled to begin later this month in South Africa — to see if the once-popular format can buy itself some more time. Even Sachin Tendulkar,who has played more than 400 ODIs,and is regarded as the greatest player of the format by some distance,recently raised doubts over the long-term viability of the 50-over game.

Humble beginnings

Perceptions about ODI cricket have constantly changed over the years. After having enjoyed a lengthy run at the helm of popularity,it now finds itself rooted on the witness box,defending its case for survival with little more than its glorious past as an alibi. The opening statement would begin with its accidental birth on a damp,rainy January day in Melbourne in 1971.

After the third Test of the 1970-71 Ashes series was washed off,the organisers decided to hold a limited-over match,billed as an ‘International knock-out between the MCC and Australia’. A total of 46,006 spectators witnessed what turned out to be the first-ever ODI. The Wisden Almanack,however,didn’t consider it consequential enough to carry a report.

Over the next four years,only a handful of one-day matches were played,with different countries warming up to the format with their own versions — for example,the ODIs in New Zealand were initially 35-over-a-side,while matches in England remained 55-over contests till the mid-90s. Only 18 matches had been completed before the inaugural cricket World Cup (60 overs) was held in England — an event which hardly created a flutter even as the West Indies ended up winners.

It wouldn’t be until 1977,when former English captain Tony Greig and an Australian media tycoon,Kerry Packer,came together that the gentleman’s game suddenly turned a new leaf. The World Series Cricket brought glamour and panache to ODI cricket — coloured clothing,white balls,and Channel 9’s multi-angle TV coverage assisted by exciting commentary — as the big boys started playing at night.

In India,however,it was only when Kapil Dev held the World Cup trophy aloft on the Lord’s balcony in 1983 that people really took notice. Within two years,by the time Ravi Shastri drove around the MCG in his brand new Audi on live television,one-dayers became a rage across the country. “The 1983 World Cup was the turning point. That is when Indians actually understood the nuances of ODI cricket,” says former Test captain Bishan Singh Bedi.

The rise and rise

One-day cricket slowly allowed the game to venture into unchartered territories,with Sharjah — which still holds the record for hosting the most number of matches — emerging as a hotbed for multi-team events,mostly involving Asian countries. Javed Miandad’s last-ball six in the Australia Cup final in 1986 became synonymous with both off-shore cricket and with the excitement that a one-dayer could generate.

Later,cricket would also spread to centres such as Malaysia,Canada and Singapore,and a number of non-Test-playing nations would come to the fore via this format — it was through impressive performances in the shorter format that Zimbabwe and Bangladesh gained the Test status.

By the time the World Cup came to the sub-continent in 1987,with the two host teams as favourites,the popularity of ODIs had reached a new high. Though both India and Pakistan were upset in the semi-finals,the final between Australia and England was played out in front of a full house at Eden Gardens.

The format,designed to favour batsmen,maximised its potential in the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand,where the 15-over fielding restrictions came into being. It led to the development of two new breeds of ODI batsmen — the attacking openers and the pinch-hitters. “The 1992 World Cup saw the likes of Mark Greatbatch and Brian Lara open the innings and go after the bowling from the start. Other teams also started adopting these tactics with time and Sachin Tendulkar began doing it for us in 1994,” says former India seamer Javagal Srinath,who played in four World Cups,starting in ‘92.

When Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana stole the show with breathtaking assaults at the top of the order during the 1996 World Cup,which had returned to the sub-continent,flat pitches and shorter boundaries became a norm. A score of 300+ — a rarity till the mid-90s — became more commonplace,and the yardstick for a par score was pushed to an entirely new level after the Lankans scored a then record 398 against Kenya at Colombo.

Srinath,who himself batted up the order a few times in the mid-90s,says groundsmen started preparing wickets which could provide 600 runs in a day. “In the early 90s,a total of 220 was a par score but the trend kept changing as the decade wore on,” he says.

What fans want

Former Indian coach Anshuman Gaekwad believes that it was the cricket fans’ appetite for big scores that prompted administrators to prepare flatter wickets and bring in the boundary ropes. “It wasn’t done with the intention of killing the bowlers,but that is exactly what it ended up doing,” he says. “While in Tests it didn’t matter how the bowlers were getting wickets as long as they were — in ODIs the trend was that it didn’t matter how the runs were being scored as long as they were coming,” Gaekwad adds.

The 1999 World Cup brought bowlers back briefly because of helpful wickets in England. But while the dramatic scenes at the end of the semi-final between Australia and South Africa entered folklore,the final was a drab affair,with the Australians lifting the trophy with an easy win over Pakistan.

Australia’s 1999 World Cup victory set in motion their era of dominance. What was looked at with awe at the turn of the millennium,however,gradually reached farcical levels as the years passed. Australia comfortably added the 2003 and 2007 crowns to their tally — remaining unbeaten while winning the two tournaments — and,as a result,the unpredictability that for long remained the selling-point for ODI cricket started to diminish.

Same old story

The real problems,however,were more technical in nature. With time,an ODI innings had slowly become a three-part action drama with a boring middle act — the 25-over period between the 15th and the 40th overs — bereft of action for the most part,in which captains were intent to spread the field and milk the bowling.

Another factor was that there were too many meaningless bilateral matches being played every year — a problem that T20 has not faced as yet because it is restricted mainly to a tournament format. Experts argue that while people wanted to watch one-day tournaments — the Nehru Cup (1989) and the Hero Cup (1993) in India,the World Series in Australia in 1985,the Champions Trophy in its first few editions,and the World Cups — the problem was that best-of-five and best-of-seven series between two teams were played so often that the format started losing its novelty.

But the biggest thorn in the side of ODIs was that their limited-over nature prompted the creation of set patterns that were easy for fans to predict. If a team lost early wickets,for example,it was clear that they would try to conserve wickets in the middle overs,and then go for a slog in the end. Since the overs would eventually run out — unlike Test cricket where its timelessness allows lower-order batsmen to score centuries and hold up the opposition with long partnerships,and T20 cricket where the time is too short for patterns to truly manifest themselves — the unpredictability in an ODI game soon started to wear out.

The ICC,for its part,attempted to add spice to the original formula. However,cricket’s endeavour to go the football way did fall flat on its face,with the widely ridiculed super-sub rule hardly lasting a year. The Powerplays,which were introduced along with it,too,have been tinkered with regularly over the last few seasons.

Since its humble beginnings,ODI cricket broke conventions and spread the reach of the sport to distant lands. The format — where a fan can dedicate an entire day,whether at the ground or in his living-room,to a game of cricket and be assured of a result at the end — will continue to survive in some form. But will it remain a 50-over affair or get broken into four innings of 25 overs,or will there be an entirely new variation?

“All three formats of the game are viable. I don’t see any problem with the survival of one-day cricket,” says Srinath. But the jury is out,and not many experts share his opinion right now.

The 70s

For a major part of the decade,one-dayers were one-off contests held as a prelude to Test series,and the number of overs differed according to the host country. Run-scoring was slow,with emphasis on building the innings,and fielding was of a far lower standard than today. The decade witnessed the first two World Cups,in 1975 and 1979,with Clive Lloyd lifting the trophy both times. Kerry Packer’s World Series added the impetus,with day-night games and coloured clothing.

The 80s

One-dayers became a hit,especially in Australia,which hosted the World Series. ODIs became a more regular feature on tours. India’s 1983 World Cup triumph captured the imagination of the cricket-mad public back home and their 1985 triumph pushed interest levels higher. Sharjah became an important setting for ODIs with rivals India and Pakistan facing each other regularly. The World Cup came to the sub-continent in 1987,with Australia lifting the trophy for the first time in Kolkata,then still Calcutta.

The 90s

The 15-over field restrictions were introduced during the 1992 World Cup and along with that came the daredevilry. Flat pitches,short boundaries and big scores became the norm and unorthodox techniques and ODI specialists came to the fore. The number of ODIs grew,some feel out of control,with the sub-continent emerging as the money-spinning hub,and Pakistan and Sri Lanka won the ‘92 and ‘96 World Cups respectively. Bowlers were forced on the back foot,as 300+ scores became regular. Australia lifted the 1999 World Cup in England to start their domination of cricket that would run close to 10 years.

The 2000s

At the turn of the century,the shorter format had completely taken over. Innovations such as the super-sub — which faded away — and the powerplay were introduced to add variations to the game and avoid an impending overkill. Australia steamrolled all-comers to lift the 2003 World Cup,crushing India in the final. Twenty20 cricket came into being,threatening to replace ODIs at the helm,and succeeded in doing so as interest in the latter started to fade. The 2007 World Cup didn’t help in uplifting the sagging fortunes of one-dayers.