Does success of WC mean ODIs are back?

First the good news. World Cup 2023 is a grand success. This is the last instalment of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) events cycle (2015-23), for which media rights were sold nine years back. Market spends have increased enormously since, to the benefit of the ICC as well as its broadcasters.

- Rasesh Mandani

India is playing host and its rockstars are holding the stage. Regardless of the home team winning the final or not on Sunday at Ahmedabad, expect the biggest stadium in cricket to be jam packed.

When the ICC reached out to media planners at the start of the tournament; the shifting narrative due to T20 explosion, the identity crisis facing ODI cricket, the non-inclusive (10 team) format were all outlined as challenges. Those fears have been allayed by record turnouts - both in stadia and on air.

But it would be short sighted to treat this World Cup as a referendum on ODI cricket. With the home team having a dream run, it did not matter if it was a T20 or an ODI World Cup, the crowds came flooding in. Not just for the home matches, a lot of the non-India matches were well attended too, taking the total spectator count past a million.

Looking at the upcoming cycle (2024-31), India despite being the game's commercial hub, can only host three white-ball events. Four of the eight world events will be of the 50 overs format; two of these will be played outside India.

The more pertinent question is what happens to ODI matches between the World Cups, as former South Africa captain and administrator Graeme Smith recently told HT. "The World Cups will always be huge. The question is how much ODI cricket is played in-between and how do you give context to each bilateral cricket series," he said.