The dominance of T20 cricket over the other two longer formats has been a discussion point in the world of cricket. The cricket board, like BCCI, has taken measures to sustain red-ball cricket by making it mandatory for players to even take part in domestic competitions. The board had even gone on to not give central contacts to Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, pointing at the fact that both have failed to participate in domestic cricket and failed to give a satisfactory explanation.
Despite this, there are fewer actions that are taken to control the dominance of the shortest format of the game, even at international levels. International boards are including more and more T20I series than that of ODI and Test. With the Test being on a better track after the introduction of the World Test Championship (WTC) in 2019. But ODI, once the most celebrated format, has been getting a lack of space in the tight schedules.
The fact that India have played only six one-day internationals since their heartbreaking defeat against the Kangaroos in 2023. Even in that year, before the World Cup, the team only played 12 ODIs against the 15 games in the T20 format. Given that the biggest competition in the 50-over format was underway and the team went on to play fewer ODIs, this shows the dominance of T20 matches in cricket.
Even this year, ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy, which is a tournament with tight competitions, India have only a single ODI series lined up, that too in February 2025. Considering India’s last ODI series was a disaster, failing Sri Lanka horribly, the team surely needed more ODI games.
Aakash Chopra Concerns Over the T20I Domination
Cricket pundit Akash Chopra points this out. He points to the dominance the T20 format has been having on international cricket.
“This format is no longer the centerpiece of international cricket it used to be. If you see as an example India’s ODI schedule between the 2023 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, we are not playing much. We did play three ODIs against South Africa in December 2023, played three ODIs against Sri Lanka in August 2024, and we will play three ODIs against England in February 2025,” he said (4:30).
“It means only nine ODIs will be played in 16 months. In the 2023 World Cup year, India played around 15 T20Is but only 12 ODIs. It says that T20 cricket has started taking precedence in international scheduling, and the 50-over format has gone slightly to the background apart from ICC organized events,” the former India opener added.
To get the latest sports updates and highlights, check out The100Sports, and Follow us on Twitter
