Should ICC World Cup be reduced to 40 overs? Ravi Shastri gives his take

The ICC World Cup is played in the ODI format every four years. However, the 50-over format has been debatable lately, while Ravi Shastri feels it could be time to reduce it to 40 overs.

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With the ICC World Cup in India less than seven months away, former India chief coach Ravi Shastri has raised the pitch for future editions of the International Cricket Council (ICC) tournament to be a 40-overs-a-side affair to give it a fresh lease of life. "For One-day cricket to survive, I think it should be reduced to the 40-over game in future," said the former India captain on Day 4 of the fourth and final India-Australia Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Shastri said the game should address the diminishing attention span of spectators and pointed out that when the Kapil Dev-led India won the ODI World Cup in 1983, it was a 60-over-a-side tournament before it was reduced to a 50-over affair.

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"I say this because when we won the World Cup in 1983, it was a 60-over [a side] game. Then the people's attention span diminished, and it became a 50-over game. I think the time has come for it to become a 40-over game. Evolve with the times. Reduce the format," added Shastri.

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While Shastri's logic about attention span is justified, once the World Cup moved to the sub-continent in 1987, it wasn't possible to hold matches over the 120-over duration with two breaks -- lunch and tea as it happened during the first three editions in England. The legendary cricketer said that the Twenty (T20) format would continue to bring big bucks into the game, though he made his displeasure known for bilateral T20I series, saying they "should be reduced".

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Shastri is also a big advocate of the reduced number of bilateral series. "T20 format is the key. It is the injection the game needs to evolve. It's the cash cow for the sport. But there also, the bilaterals [series] should be reduced. There are enough domestic leagues worldwide that promote the T20 game," he felt.

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"We should let those leagues happen and then have a World Cup, just in between. Very few bilaterals, if needed before a World Cup or something of that sort. Then, you can sustain all three formats," added Shastri. The former player said that Test cricket would continue to enjoy its pride of place as it was the "real thing".

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"Test cricket will remain, and it should be given paramount importance. It's the real thing. There's a place for all formats within India. Especially in the subcontinent. Especially in places like Australia," supposed Shastri. India cricketer Dinesh Karthik also said the ODI format was losing its charm and that the CWC in India in October-November this year could be the last edition.

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"ODI format has lost its charm. We may see the last World Cup later this year or one more after that. People want to see Test cricket, which is the truest form of cricket and T20 for entertainment," said Karthik. He added that with so much cricket happening around the world to go with the mushrooming domestic T20 leagues, the ODI format had been caught in "no man's land".

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"Test cricket is like art movies, and T20 is commercial cinema. ODIs are present in no man's land. Take the example of Ben Stokes, the best all-rounder of the current times, saying he is done with ODI cricket. There is a fact that with a T20 World Cup scheduled every two years, countries will not be playing bilateral series anymore. There won't be enough ODI matches," concluded Karthik.

(With inputs from PTI)