Sachin Tendulkar has shared his views on the declining popularity of ODI cricket as more people prefer the shorter format of the game which is T20 cricket. He feels that a significant portion of an ODI match can be molded and has proposed some interesting changes to make the format more exciting. One such suggestion was reducing the match length to 40 overs per side.
Tendulkar said that the 15th to 40th overs of an ODI match are becoming less exciting and he proposes a solution where both teams play 25-25 overs in each inning. However, Tendulkar’s former teammate, Ajay Jadeja, made a witty comment, suggesting that teams nowadays do not seem interested in playing a full 40-over match.
While having a conversation on Cricbuzz, Jadeja said, “The master has made his statement, there are no doubts on that. But the thing is those who have played have accepted that. They have stopped that game between the 15th and 40th overs. They are not even going till there. All the problems that we had with predictability, boring, they are all gone now.”
Jadeja’s humorous remark seems to be related to the recent India-Australia ODI series. Both teams got all out before the 40th over in the first two matches hence the second innings also finished before the 40 over. This situation might indicate that teams are not interested in playing a full 40-over game.
“Tendulkar sahab said that 15-40 over period is getting boring, these guys said we won’t even play until the 40th over,” said Jadeja.
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The first and second ODI between India and Australia are equally won by both the teams and the series is standing on 1-1 with the last match to go in MA Chidambaram, Chennai on March 22.
