New Delhi . Due to Australia's busy international schedule, cricket legend Mark Waugh expects ODI cricket to be restricted to major tournaments like the ICC World Cup and Champions Trophy in the future.
Waugh, considering Australia's 12 defeat in the recent ODI series against Pakistan, has made a realistic but bitter prediction that the traditional 50over format will be replaced by the shorter T20 format and Test match sides out of highstakes competitions. can be reduced.
The Australian team is missing star Test players Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, having struggled in the absence of its senior players. A stellar performance from Cummins in the first ODI helped secure a close win, but his subsequent resting and the lack of other Test star players led to a series of crushing defeats for the inexperienced lineup, including poor batting performances. In which the World Cup winning team was out for 163 and 140 runs in the second and third ODI respectively.
It was Australia's first ODI home series defeat against Pakistan since 2002, and the performance prompted cricket commentators Ian Healy and Michael Clarke to suggest that Cricket Australia might lose interest in lowstakes bilateral series. .
For Waugh, one of Australia's greatest ODI players with 18 international centuries, the weakening of the format has become apparent midway through the bilateral series.
“I think you're right,” Waugh told news.com.au. The World Cup and Champions Trophy are still great events. The last World Cup in India was an amazing tournament, and not just because Australia won. I still think it's a great tournament and it's a great format because it's a mix of T20 and Test matches in a 50over game.
“You don't want to lose the 50over game completely,” he said. But with an alwaysbusy calendar, especially as T20 leagues and tournaments expand globally, Waugh believes the importance of 50over bilateral series is important. Could be less. But looking at the schedule of all these T20 tournaments, the 50 over bilateral series are getting reduced.
Waugh said, “Obviously playing for your country is a big thing, you don't want to disrespect it. But equally, you want to be playing for something that's a little more than a threematch series thrown in between all these other tournaments and series. I think it will be phased out. I think maybe this is the way to go.”
Currently, the future of the ODI format may lie in special events such as the ICC World Cup and Champions Trophy. Waugh envisions a model where bilateral ODI matches can take place. They work as a warmup for bigger tournaments, but in between, they may lack staying power.
He said, “When you move towards big tournaments like the World Cup, you can add a few more matches as a leadup. But… the threematch series – it is definitely great for Pakistan to win …But I don't think it's going to be the highlight of the cricket season.
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Image Credit: KhasKhabar.