'No Room for Random ODIs': ICC CEO speaks out on One-Day Cricket's future

The future of One-Day International (ODI) cricket looks gloomy, but not the 50-over World Cup, as ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta, who took charge last year, hints at ending ‘randomly scheduled ODIs’ in the near future. Already under scrutiny following the growth of franchise-based T20 leagues worldwide, the One-Dayers could be reduced to major ICC events, including the 50-over World Cup, Champions Trophy and marquee series, if at all. Gupta suggests that because these ‘randomly scheduled ODIs’ do not fit four levers that drive attention and affiliation, their sustenance is challenging.

"The era of randomly scheduled bilateral series has to come to an end, because countries will not be able to sustain cricket without context, culture, competition and competitiveness, which require significant investment of resources, both financial and non-financial," Gupta said in a statement to the PTI.

"It's important to stay focused on the four levers which drive attention and affiliation - context, culture, competition and competitiveness - and ODIs can continue not just to survive, but thrive,” he added.

Although he remained committed to the next FTP cycle, which includes two ODI World Cups (2027 and 2031) and a Champions Trophy tournament in 2029, Gupta insisted on looking at where this format stands and could be evolved and expanded.

"There is a place for the format in the product portfolio, which is inextricably linked to men's and women's World Cups. We need to look at what we want the format to stand for and how we want it to evolve, including the expanse of participation,” he continued.

Meanwhile, ODI cricket completed its 5000th match, contested between Scotland and Canada in Dundee last week. The ICC also introduced a new format for the 2027 World Cup, involving 14 teams.

With 10 teams, including three host nations: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia automatically qualifying, several associate teams, Scotland and the Netherlands hit out at the ICC for a lack of communication on revamping the ODI WC qualifying structure, calling this episode ‘disrespectful’.

Jonty Rhodes Raises Similar Concerns

Veteran fielder Jonty Rhodes raised similar concerns on the expansion of ODI cricket at a recent event in Mumbai.

"When T20 first started, people were saying it's going to put pressure on Test cricket; amazingly, it hasn't," Rhodes said.

"Sure, some of the Test cricket looks like T20 at times, there's some aggressive batting and bowling, but for me it was always understanding that 50-over cricket might be the one format that might be in trouble in the years ahead.

"We're really fortunate that what 50-over cricket has is you've got really passionate fans, who support their team no matter what format. At this stage, I think there will be fewer and fewer bilateral series where there's a lot of 50-over cricket in the bilateral series. But it's very difficult to think of cricket without the 50-over version,” he noted.