How to watch ODIs in the T20 era

It’s around noon on a baking Mumbai Tuesday and cricket talk has hit fever pitch among a small group of youngsters in a local train. The topic of discussion is around the South Africa-Bangladesh duel starting in a couple of hours’ time at Wankhede Stadium. One guy predicts the Proteas to cross 400, another for "apna de Kock” (Quinton de Kock was a Mumbai Indians regular in the Indian Premier League) to get going while the third reckons Shakib Al Hasan’s return will lift Bangladesh.

- Rutvick Mehta and Aditya Chaturvedi

The 2023 ODI World Cup in India has brought out distinct visuals and numbers in terms of fan engagement. There are several ways to look at it too. Viewership records for the tournament's digital streaming platform in the country are touching new highs, and packed stadiums have roared along wherever the Indian team has played.

In contrast, non-India matches have generally witnessed empty pockets in stadiums across the country, although cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru have been happy to tweak the trend. An overlapping theme through this tournament so far is the presence of more bums on seats towards the evening than right from the start; the Wankhede on Tuesday, for instance, had more than double the spectator count at 6pm compared to 2pm.

Which also brings out the question: caught somewhere between the fast-acquired taste of T20s and the undetachable tradition of Tests, how much does 50-overs cricket still appeal to a fan? One that is, as ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain put it while commentating during World Cup, the “life blood of the game” who cannot be “taken for granted”.

Purely on nuances of the sport, it does to a large extent. While the five-day game provides a slow burn by testing every aspect of cricket's skill and the T20 version showcases the quick thrills of a hitting spectacle, one-dayers, sort of, blends the best of both.