Ashwin urges ICC to rethink calendar, calls ODI cricket ‘redundant’

Ravichandran Ashwin has called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to revisit its international calendar, arguing that the increasing frequency of global tournaments has diluted their significance and placed commercial considerations ahead of the sport’s long-term health.

Speaking on his YouTube channel Ash Ki Baat, Ashwin pointed out that almost every year now features a marquee ICC event, a trend he believes is driven largely by revenue generation. He noted that 2025 hosted the men’s Champions Trophy and the women’s ODI World Cup, while 2026 is set to feature both the men’s and women’s T20 World Cups.

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“The ODI format has become redundant and to top it, ICC needs to see how they are conducting these World Cups. Every year, there is an ICC tournament for revenue generation pattern, but look at how FIFA is doing it. There are leagues (EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga) happening and they do their World Cup once in every four years. The World Cup has value as it’s a marquee tournament. (But in cricket) too many bilaterals, too many formats, too many World Cups, so it’s a little bit of an overkill,” Ashwin said.

While several former players, including Sachin Tendulkar, have suggested innovations such as a split-innings format to revive 50-over cricket, Ashwin proposed a more fundamental change, limiting ODIs to a single global event every four years.

“If you really want to make ODI cricket relevant, then just play these (T20s) leagues and play ODI World Cup once in four years. So when people turn up for events, there will be sense of expectation. (Otherwise) I feel it (ODI cricket) is going towards slow death,” he said.

Ashwin also warned that the format could face deeper challenges once established stars like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma step away from ODIs, suggesting that modern-day one-day cricket no longer encourages the kind of innings-building that once defined the format.

“…Dhoni (would) take singles for 10-15 overs before he went berserk at the end. You don’t have players like that (Dhoni) anymore. There isn’t any requirement to play like that, as you are playing with two new balls and five fielders inside circle,” said Ashwin, asserting that modern ODIs are either a ‘BashaThon’ or a tale of collapse if the wicket happens to be slightly difficult,” he said.