Have ODIs 'Lost Their Charm'? Ravi Shastri Suggests Drastic Rule Changes

With the ODI World Cup in India less than seven months away, former India chief coach Ravi Shastri has raised the pitch for future editions of the ICC tournament to be 40-overs-a-side affair to give it a fresh lease of life. "For One-day cricket to survive, I think it should be reduced to 40-over game in future," said the former India captain on day four of the fourth India-Australia Test on Sunday. Shastri said the game should address the diminishing attention span of spectators and pointed out that when the Kapil Dev-led India won the ODI World Cup in 1983, it was a 60-over-a-side tournament before it was reduced to a 50-over affair.

"The reason I say this is because when we won the World Cup in 1983, it was a 60-over (a side) game. Then the attention span of the people diminished and it became a 50-over game. I think the time has come for it to become now a 40-over game. Evolve with the times. Reduce the format,” added Shastri.

While Shastri's logic about attention span is justified but once the World Cup moved to the sub-continent in 1987, it wasn't possible to hold matches over 120-over duration with two breaks -- lunch and tea like it happened during first three editions in England.

The legendary cricketer said that the T20 format will continue to bring big bucks into the game, though he made his displeasure known for bilateral T20I series, saying they "should be reduced".

Shastri is also a big advocate of reduced number of bilateral series.

"T20 format I think is the key. It is the injection the game needs to evolve. It's the cash cow for the sport. But I think there also the bilaterals (series) should be reduced. There are enough domestic leagues around the world that promote the T20 game.

"We should let those