With Ben Stokes‘ decision to retire from One Day cricket, a lot of conversations around the unsustainable amount of cricket that is being played globally. Many cricketers opted out of IPL 2022 stating the same reason. Several Indian cricketers who play all formats have been rested by the management before the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 to ensure no burnouts. However, this still remains a source of concern. Pakistan legend Wasim Akram looking at the matter suggests that One Day Cricket be completely scrapped. Moreover, he emphasized how the T20 format is much easier for both the physical and mental capacity of individuals. And how T20 allows them to earn better.
Wasim further added that he himself preferred playing Test cricket over ODIs. Picking Tests as his favorite, he believes T20 cricket is good for the audience as well as the players. Whereas, ODI cricket just seems to be dying off. He also talked about Stokes’ retirement as sad but says can completely understand as the demands of the format are high too.
Wasim Akram calls One Day Cricket to be scrapped off
Wasim Akram says “him deciding that he is retiring from one-day cricket is quite sad but I agree with him. Even as a commentator one-day cricket is just a drag now, especially after T20. I can imagine as a player. 50 overs, 50 overs, then you have to pre-game, post-game, the lunch game. T20 is kind of easier, four hours the game is over. The leagues all around the world, there is a lot more money – I suppose this is part and parcel of the modern cricket. T20 or Test cricket. One-day cricket is kind of dying.”
“It is quite tiring for a player to play one-day cricket. After T20, one-day cricket seems it is going for days. So players are focussing on more shorter format. And longer format obviously [with] Test cricket. I think so. In England, you have full houses. In India, Pakistan especially, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and South Africa, one-day cricket you are not going to fill the stadiums. They are doing it just for the sake of doing it. After the first 10 overs, it’s just ‘OK, just go a run a ball, get a boundary, four fielders in and you get to 200, 220 in 40 overs’ and then have a go last 10 overs. Another 100. It’s kind of run-of-the-mill,” he added.
“There’s a battle within the battle in Test cricket. I always preferred Test matches. One-day used to be fun but Test matches were where you were recognized as a player where people still pick you for the world XIs. OK money matters – I understand where they are coming from – but they should also remember if they want to be recognized as one of the greats of the game.”
