Cricket world cup: Is the 50-over format in decline?

Australia won the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 for a record extending sixth time. They beat hosts and two-time champions India. While there was a fair level of enthusiasm from advertisers, questions on the 50-over format have persisted for a while, especially in light of the more popular 20-over version (T20). 

According to Balu Nayar, former MD of IMG and a key architect of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the ODI game has been predicted to go on a decline for some years now. “The evidence exists in addition to opinions with South Africa abandoning their ODI tournament with Australia to focus on their T20 tournament. India is the elephant in this room since other than England or Australia, most countries don’t find their ODI tournaments financially viable unless they play India,” he says.  

More interestingly, this has not led just by what the audience wants. “Players themselves prefer to play franchise cricket (T20s) rather than ODIs for their country. And [players like] Jason Roy, Trent Boult, and almost every leading South African cricketer, has chosen club over country. That’s the downward spiral that ODIs have got into, with an already declining audience amplified by star players missing,” maintains Nayar. 

Nothing, of course, has been more successful than the Indian Premier League that debuted in 2008. With a vast audience across the world’s cricket diaspora, it has brought in advertisers and huge revenues through the sale of television and broadcasting revenues; last year a five-year deal for both raked in a whopping $6 billion. A day-night format packs in a match in about four hours. With a large captive audience, advertising rates for the final game easily gets past Rs 20 lakh for a 10 second spot.   

Harish Bijoor, brand domain specialist and owner Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, attributes the changing trend or the preference for a shorter format to the mindset of an impatient generation. “Let’s be clear that the bandwidth of attention is low. From the conventional five-day test match, we moved to 50 overs and now to 20 overs,” he says. The story is all about reducing the time to ensure attention never wanes. “The next version could easily be a soccer match spread over 90 minutes. It may have to be done to address the challenge of dropping attention.” 

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