The movement started again about three months ago, at first in a whisper here and a murmur there. Then some of world cricket’s biggest names stared lending their voices to the cause, and soon the battle-lines were drawn as experts furiously debated the future of one-day cricket — questioning the need for its existence, calling it boring, unpredictable and redundant in the sport’s postmodern age.

The naysayers and the defenders were still fighting when they reached the threshold of the Champions Trophy in South Africa. And, as the stalemate continued, the onus of taking a decision was placed on the feeble shoulders of a tournament that has had a tumultuous past since its inception 11 years ago.

No single cricket event must have ever faced as much pressure as this edition of the Champions Trophy in South Africa. With all eyes veered in its direction to spot the smallest suggestion of weakness and the tiniest indication of strength, the tournament is engaged in a raging battle both for and against the future of one-day cricket.

The Champions Trophy has been a doomed concept right from the start. The first edition in 1998 — a brainchild of Jagmohan Dalmiya — was held in Dhaka to bring Bangladesh into focus at a time when cricket administrators were desperate to accord them Test status. The pointlessness behind the tournament took a while to fully manifest itself but no doubts remained once India and Sri Lanka were declared joint winners after two farcical attempts at holding the final were, almost fittingly, quashed by equatorial rain in Colombo in 2002.

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