Sachin Tendulkar's formula to revamp the ODI format does not find any takers in the apex body's Cricket Committee
Sachin Tendulkar's formula to revamp the ODI format does not find any takers in the apex body's Cricket Committee
The International Cricket Council (ICC) provided ample indication that the 50-over game does not need major changes to make it more interesting despite a threat in the form of Twenty20 cricket. Here's what ICC General Manager Dave Richardson told MiD DAY yesterday when asked about batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar's letter (sent in May before the cricket committee meeting) to cricket's apex body, suggesting radical changes to the ODI format:u00a0 "I can confirm to you that they (the ideas) were thoroughly discussed (by the cricket committee headed by Clive Lloyd in May), but we decided not to go with them."
Gunning for change : Sachin Tendulkar in action during a List A game
against Sussex in Hove last month. Pic/Getty images
Can't revisit plan
Tendulkar, having appeared in a world record 453 ODIs, has been a strong believer for a while that the format must be split into four equal innings (of 25 overs each). "Lots of people have come up with different ideas to revamp the ODI format. So, he's surely not the only one," added Richardson. Asked if ICC would revisit the ideas in the future, the former South African wicketkeeper said: "No, they have been dealt with already."
Veteran journalist and president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Christopher Martin-Jenkins revealed the contents of Tendulkar's letter to ICC in The Times yesterday. "He (Tendulkar) argues that four alternate innings of 25 overs for each side in an international would be the fairest way of balancing the advantages gained by the team that win the toss when pitch and weather conditions mean that a match can virtually be decided by the spin of a coin.
"Tendulkar mentions several such games in the longest of all present international careers, going back to his first appearances as a 16-year-old in Pakistan in 1989. Chief among them is the notorious 1996 World Cup semi-final in Calcutta when India were caught on what he calls a "square turner" in the second innings.
"Tendulkar's letter also proposes changes to the voluntary powerplays. In each 25-over block he wants only two at the behest of the batting side but three for the fielding team and he also suggests that up to four bowlers should be allowed up to 12 overs each, rather than the present limit of ten," CMJ wrote in The Times.
Sachin's masterplan
*u00a0A switch from two 50-over innings to four (innings) of 25 each.
* Four bowlers must be allowed 12 overs each, rather than the present limit of 10.
* Batting side must be allowed only two voluntary powerplays, but bowling side must be given three.
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