Azharuddin against ‘shortening’ of cricket, wants ODIs to remain

Former Indian cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin is not in favour of scrapping bilateral One Day International cricket, and the potential further ‘shortening’ of the game. 

Azharuddin, who was in the island on the invitation of the owner of the B-Love Kandy Lanka Premier League (LPL) franchise, also commended Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on conducting the LPL, saying the results of the three previous editions were visible. 

Speaking on the recommendations made the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) last month proposing the scrapping of ODIs during bilateral tours except in the year preceding a World Cup, Azharuddin believed that the 50-over format still had a place in the modern game.  

“You have to play 50-over cricket, that's how the World Cup is played, that's how all the World Cups have been played,” the former Indian captain said. 

Azharuddin himself had an impressive ODI record, and despite retiring 22 years ago, still remains among the top 20 ODI run scorers of all time, with his tally of 9378. 

“If you try and keep doing so many changes, then there is no end to it. You can't keep shortening the game all the time. There are T10 matches happening, maybe after T10 something else will happen. I'm not in favour of shortening the game,” Azharuddin said. 

He also called for greater efforts to protect Test cricket, stating that it was still the real test of a players cricketing skill. 

“I think they should protect Test cricket also because that is the pillar of cricket. Even in Test matches you get a lot of crowds, because if you see the matches played between England and Australia, or for that matter any game in England, I think you have a lot of crowd, it's very hard to get tickets. (Test cricket) is the basis (of the sports) because that's the test and skill of a player when you play for five days. Things change, the wicket changes and situation changes. I'm sure Test cricket will be there, I have no doubt that it continue,” the former Indian captain said. 

He also commended the efforts made in organizing the Lanka Premier League, which weathered Covid-19 and the economic crisis to be conducted for the fourth year, adding that the results were now visible. 

“The most important thing when you are holding these leagues is to give importance to the players from your country and the smaller countries when they hardly get a chance so that when they come and play with international players they will get more exposure. It's a very good idea,” Azharuddin said. 

"The results (of this league) have shown in Sri Lanka winning the Asia Cup, which I was happy to see.”