‘Right balance needed for ODIs to survive’

MUMBAI: The legendary Sachin Tendulkar on Friday said that one-day cricket is heavily tilted towards the batters and the imbalance between the bat and the ball must be looked into, adding that Test format needs to be played on all kinds of pitches to keep the fans interested.

The objectivity of playing the ODI format, in the age of T20 cricket, is already a subject of debate and discussion with many of the opinion that it’s enough for the game to keep just the shortest version and the five-day format.

The iconic cricketer firmly believes that the game has become faster after the introduction of the slam-bang T20 format and it’s time to do something that will ensure that equilibrium remains in ODI cricket.

“You blink and the match is over. I feel all three formats are different but somewhere I feel one-day format (is something that) people need to have a look at closely,” Tendulkar said.

“I feel there is an imbalance between the bat and the ball. It is too much at this point in time in favour of the batters,” he opined.

Tendulkar said bowlers need to be given some advantage because the current rules make it a batters’ game, especially with two white balls in play and field restrictions allowing batters to have a lot of freedom without being adequately challenged.

“With two new balls even in the 25th over the ball is literally 12 or 13 overs old. There is no such thing as reverse swing or the discolouration of the ball, or the ball becoming soft.

“I find these factors really put pressure on the bowling side and there were challenges (earlier) that one did not pick the ball because of the discolouration,” he said.

“Give some advantage to the bowlers as well – I find that element missing right now. Also, with the introduction of five fielders in the ring, I spoke with some spinners and the overall experience is that ‘we cannot change our line’.

“An off-spinner is forced to bowl on the middle-stump line. They cannot deceive a batter. I would say that some adjustments need to be made,” Tendulkar said.