Three reasons why ICC should come up with more multi-team ODI tournaments

The World Cup is done and dusted and it has almost been one month since the mega event got over. And aren't we still missing it? There is no denying the fact that a huge audience looks forward to bigger events. Meanwhile, Test cricket now has Test Championship which will try to give a rebirth to the pristine form of the game, that mostly struggles to keep breathing. But in the T20 era, what about the ODI cricket? Will the governing body continue to have only bilateral series to offer to the masses?

The Champions Trophy has already been scrapped by the International Cricket Council. So we now have the 50-overs World Cup, the Test Championship and the T20I World Cup as the big three events. Consequently, each form has its own big thing. However, ODI cricket has always remained to be the best event for the multi-team tournament and the 50-over World Cup has a different ring to it.

Here are the three reasons why the ICC should ponder to have more multi-team ODI tournaments.

Better viewership

England had lifted their maiden World Cup title.

The multi-team tournaments are known to get a better viewership and thus they are great for the game globally. More viewers mean more globalization of the game and subsequently more money comes in for International Cricket Council. The same money can put back to make cricket a global sport.

Across ICC’s digital and social platforms during the group stage of the World Cup, there have been an unprecedented 2.6 billion video views. These are some staggering numbers.

The game has always been about connecting to more viewers and the players have loved the support of the die-hard fans across the world. Hence, it helps ICC in making a profit and the game benefits from the same.

Fans want to see more action between the top sides

The end consumer is of utmost importance in the market. In the field of sports, the fans or the viewers are the fulcra of the game. Ergo, it is imperative to feed the audience what they want to see more than a mundane bilateral series. If the people get to see more battles between the top sides of the world, they would turn to the stadiums in numbers and if they don't, why will they spend their money?

The semi-final between India and New Zealand in the World Cup had set a new world record by delivering the highest ever concurrent views on Hotstar with a peak of 25.3 million. Yes, it makes a huge difference when India is playing and this is once again a gargantuan number.

Hence, the bigger matches in the big events of the sport make a lot of difference.

ODI cricket needs a spark & other factors

England ICC World Cup Victory Celebration

In the age of T20 cricket, there is no denying the fact that the 50-overs version has lost some of its excitement. The middle overs (15-40) can be a bit dull and the modern-day generation wants to have entertainment. The bilateral series can be boring at times with the home side generally dominating the tourists.

It is well known that the big lessons are learned during the matches and not in the practice sessions. Subsequently, teams like Afghanistan will get more exposure to playing big matches against quality sides. Therefore, they get better, which would once again help in making the sport global.

In fact, it should be noted that it would be a bad idea to straight away get a lot of multi-team tournaments. However, there is no doubt that it won't be a bad idea to get back a competition like the Champions Trophy back in the fold.