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Does the poor World Cup turnout in India signal the death of ODI cricket?
South Africa's game against Sri Lanka attracted around 10,000 fans at the 40,000-seater Arun Jaitley Stadium.
The Proteas team singing the national anthem in front of empty seats at the World Cup in Delhi. Picture: Isuru Sameera Peiris/Gallo Images
It’s difficult to imagine, but claims that 50-over cricket is a dying format might just be true.
There has been no better evidence of this unfortunate possibility than the poor attendance of games at the World Cup in India.
The sport is so popular in India that players’ houses are burned down if they don’t meet people’s expectations on a cricket field. So the largely empty stands in the early stages of the World Cup have been a little shocking. It just doesn’t seem right, but facts don’t lie.
According to AFP, organisers optimistically estimated around 40,000 fans watched the opener between New Zealand and England at the 132,000-seater Ahmedabad Stadium, the world’s largest cricket ground.
Similarly, the Proteas’ game against Sri Lanka on Saturday attracted around 10,000 fans at New Delhi’s 40,000-seater Arun Jaitley Stadium.
T20 wins the battle
For some time, it has been clear that T20 cricket has taken a bit of shine off the 50-over format, but the 20-over game has also changed the face of the sport by making longer formats more explosive and attractive.
The way ODI matches have evolved over the last decade, it has become like a longer version of the T20 game, with the added benefit of requiring a balance of playing quality cricket while entertaining spectators.
If you dropped the T20 format now, people would keep watching 50-over cricket because it’s far more exciting than it used to be, and it’s more attractive to purists than bash-or-crash cricket.
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The problem, with all the cricket that is being played around the world every year, is that something has to fold, and one of the two limited overs formats is unlikely to survive in the long run.
The T20 game is a money-spinner, with lucrative leagues being played across the world, and there is too much to lose even if the powers that be wanted to scratch it from the sport.
In contrast, the 50-over game is not a big money-spinner. If they dropped it, there wouldn’t be much to lose.
As much as it might suck, it is what it is, and if India can’t attract fans to the showpiece event in India, let’s be honest. Nobody can.
