‘Mera naam hi one-day cricket se bana hai. It’s all nonsense’: Rohit Sharma talks on ODI losing prominence.
‘Mera naam hi one-day cricket se bana hai. It’s all nonsense’: Rohit Sharma talks on ODI losing prominence. One-day cricket has been put on a weak streak by the rise of Twenty20 leagues all over the world. These leagues pay players good money and are growing quickly. However, the 50-over format needs to find a way to stay popular after the World Cup is over. The fact that Ben Stokes quit the one-day game to cut down on his workload only made the debate about the future of the one-day game more heated.
Is ODI losing its engagement?
Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, disagreed with the idea that one-day cricket was becoming less popular. “Mera naam hi one-day cricket se bana hai, sab bekar ki baatein hai, (I made my mark in ODIs, the talk is nonsense),” said Sharma at an event put on by a leading sportswear brand. The event focused on bringing attention to the pollution of the oceans caused by the use of non-biodegradable and microplastics.
Sharma, along with Virat Kohli, is the best one-day batsman of this era. He has three double-hundred scores, with the highest being 264. He has a total of 9376 runs and 29 centuries.
Sharma thinks that the format is still effective.
“People were earlier talking about Test cricket. For me, cricket is important — whatever be the format. I would never say that ODI is getting finished or T20 is getting finished or Tests are nearing an end. I wish there is another format as well, because for me, playing the game is most important. Since childhood, we dreamt of playing the game for India and whenever we play ODIs, stadiums are full, the excitement remains high. It’s an individual choice as to which format to play or not, but for me, all three formats are important,” said India’s all-format captain.
This season, there are a lot of changes in the cricket world. Aside from the well-known Indian Premier League, players in the T20 leagues starting this year in South Africa and the UAE will be paid a lot of money. The lucrative T20 league market is luring players to become mercenaries, which has sparked a debate about country vs. club. Trent Boult, a fast bowler, has also decided to quit his contract with the New Zealand board and become a freelancer.
Sharma’s main goal is to play well for his country.
“I don’t know what people are thinking about playing leagues over international cricket. There will be ten more leagues, but in the coming years, we will get to know what the players prefer. But as of now, the situation of Indian cricket remains the same — we play the IPL and the international cricket. The guys are getting exposure and our aim is to create bench strength, so that’s why in Zimbabwe, there are a lot of players who are touring for the first time – be it Shahbaz Ahmed, Rahul Tripathi – and it is a good exposure.”
What’s more with Asia Cup nearing?
All the attention this year has been on getting ready for the T20 World Cup, but the India vs. Pakistan derby at the end of the month makes the Asia Cup even more exciting. Pakistan beat India in their last World Cup match, which took place in the same place, UAE, in 2021.
Sharma tried to downplay the excitement about a match between India and Pakistan by saying that Pakistan would be playing a different kind of cricket. “Asia Cup is happening after a long time, but we played Pakistan last year in Dubai, where obviously the result did not go our way. But the Asia Cup is different now. The team is playing differently and has prepared differently, so a lot of things have changed from then. But for us, we need to assess the conditions, keep in mind the fact that we will be playing in 40-plus degrees. We need to assess all those factors and prepare accordingly,” he said.
“As a team we are working on a few things ahead of the Asia Cup. We have to keep the process going. There is still about two-and-a-half months left for the T20 World Cup. Before that, we have the Asia Cup and two home series against Australia and South Africa. So, more or less 80-90 per cent of your team is set, of course there could be three-four changes if at all depending on the conditions. As of now, we have been playing in India and will play in UAE, so the conditions in Australia will be different. We need to check what suits our team in Australia.”
Sharma said that the main goal is to build up the team’s bench.
“Bumrah, Shami and all these guys will not be with the Indian team forever, so you have to try and prepare the other guys. Myself and Rahul bhai spoke about how we are going to create our bench strength. We never want to be a team that relies on one or two individuals, we want to be a team where everyone can contribute and help the team win on their own. We want to be that kind of a team and that’s why we want to give the youngsters as many opportunities as possible and of course, you have got senior players around them. They can be of good help.”