Sachin Tendulkar Wants ODI Format To Be Tweaked

Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t want 50-over cricket to be played in the format it is being played at the moment.

Right now, the concept of 50-over cricket is pretty simple. Both teams get 50 overs each. Whatever the team batting first scores, the other team has to go past it. Sachin Tendulkar wants to tweak that concept.

According to Tendulkar, rather than giving both teams one innings of 50 overs each, teams should be given two innings of 25 overs each.

One team should play their 25 overs first before the other team takes over and bats for 25 overs as well. If they score more than the team batting first in their first 25 overs, they will take a lead.

The team which had batted first will bat for 25 overs in the third innings again and they will try and chip away on the lead that the second team has taken or they will increase their own lead if they have the lead.

And, then on the basis of how much lead the team batting first has after the third innings, a final target will be determined for the other team.

But, the two teams won’t have fresh sets of 10 batsmen to use in the two innings. They will have to manage with the same playing XI in both the innings.

For example – If they lost 5 wickets in their first 25 overs and their no. 6 and no. 7 were at the crease when the first innings completed, those two batsmen will start when the team bats again in the third innings, the openers won’t start.

Basically, the players who are dismissed in the first innings can’t bat in the third innings and it also applies to the team batting in the second and the fourth innings.

If a team has lost all the 10 wickets in their first 25 overs itself, the other team will have full 50 overs to chase down the score.

“The 50-over format is the first thing that needs a look-in. As I had suggested, the format needs a tweak of two innings of 25 overs per side with a 15-minute break between each innings (a total of four innings between two teams). The number of innovations that can be brought in are huge.” Tendulkar was quoted saying by Times of India.

Tendulkar reckons not only will it make ODI cricket interesting, it will also make sure that one particular team is not at the receiving end of the conditions.

When the games are played in dewy conditions, the team batting in the night has an unfair advantage over the team batting in the afternoon because there is dew at night and the ball skids on to the bat.

Similarly, when the games are played with a rain forecast, the teams like to bat second as that puts them in a better position to calculate the Duckworth-Lewis scores.

But, if there are 4 innings, one team won’t be able to get advantage of the conditions and the other team won’t feel hard done by.

 

 

 

Leave a Reply