Ajay Jadeja Is Not In Favour Of ODI’s, Rather Stresses On The T20I And Test Format
When asked about the future of the ODI format, former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja said that broadcasters and media rights have a lot to do with how popular the format is. Notably, Ben Stokes retired from ODI cricket at the age of 31 recently, opting to concentrate on Test and T20I formats, which have now raised a lot of concerns over the 50-over format.
Test cricket has made it this far, and it looks like it will continue to do so. But the T20 format has put the ODIs in the backseat, and it’s hard for cricket players to keep up with all three types of games. Recently, former cricket players Ravi Shastri and Shahid Afridi said that the number of overs in one-day internationals (ODIs) should be cut from 50 to 40 so that the format stays interesting.
Jadeja talked about the time before ODI cricket, when there weren’t as many Tests, and said that the 50-over format made a lot of money for the broadcasters. He then talked about how important it is that media rights have a direct effect on how popular the format is.
“There was a time when only ODI cricket was played and fewer Test matches were held because that was better for the players, the broadcasters, and the association as a whole. Broadcasters are very important. If you look, you’ll see that whoever gets more media rights gets more attention. At one point, ODI cost a lot of money. Then T20 came along,” Jadeja told Fan Code while India and West Indies played their second ODI.
He said that the media rights for T20Is have gone up since they started, but that this won’t change anything about Test cricket. He ended with a snide remark about how no one would watch a match for seven hours when T20 games are over in three.
“Now that their rights have grown, there are fewer ODIs. But tests will always be there. India actually plays more Test matches now than they did 20 to 30 years ago. But ODI… 7 ghante kiske paas he agar saare teen ghante me kaam chalta he?” Jadeja added.
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