Test cricket is not retro, it is still contemporary and even modern cricketers look forward to playing it.

Tradition is not dead. It rarely goes.

Young men and women still ask parents for permission before they get married.

So will 50-over cricket become the sandwich between the alluring tradition of Test cricket and the youthful exuberance of 20-20?

Is yesterday’s new kid on the block today’s middle-aged parent? Will it need to reinvent itself? Or, as we have seen, do we just let things lie and call the bluff of those that want change every morning?

I believe the fear of the bite is worse than the bite itself. 50-over cricket is not in immediate danger as long as there is a home country involved.

Two teams playing in a third country are likely to have empty stands as a backdrop, but add the drama of a home team playing the visitors and there is still some value to be had.

The real test will come in long drawn out tournaments like the tri-series in Australia where a minimum of 14 matches will be played over a month.

But with far too much at stake, nobody can allow 50 overs cricket to die. With a hundred overs, four drinks breaks and a long mid-innings break, it is an advertiser’s dream.

If audiences in 50 overs cricket start dwindling the game will lose too much, to the extent that its financial position could get threatened, and so I won’t be surprised if they begin tinkering with it a bit if they need to.

... contd.