Recently, the Indian cricket world was divided down the middle in reaction to a simple comment made by skipper Mahendra Dhoni. The Indian one-day skipper had complained that his team was tired of playing continuous cricket and criticised the Asia Cup organisers for a punishing tournament schedule, which asks players to play back to back matches. Dhoni received support from Test captain Anil Kumble who reasoned, ?It?s never easy to play back to back matches.? Soon after BCCI came down hard saying if players wanted rest they should say so and not issue controversial media statements. Some critics went on to state that Dhoni had not complained when playing continuous cricket for 45 days in the IPL. Dhoni?s team played the maximum of 16 matches after they reached the final and Dhoni was the highest earner receiving a whopping $1.5 million in the auction.

What this debate missed is the underlying grim reality, which may have spurred Dhoni?s scepticism. For performers of this nature, men keen to make the big stage their own, it is near impossible to achieve to their set standards when public interest is at very low ebb. With some hundred spectators at the grounds watching the games, the incentive to perform isn?t there. In situations like this, the body refuses to stand up even if the mind wants to.

For much of June cricket fans across the subcontinent were expected to have their focus on Bangladesh and Pakistan where India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh played or are playing for honours in a tri-nation series and subsequently for the Asia cup. Or so we hoped. And it is this ?play for honours? bit that raises a moot question concerning the fate of the one-day, fifty over, contest making pertinent Dhoni?s comment. Are they truly playing for honour? Is there any honour involved in these crass commercial propositions? Will they last in public memory longer than their duration?

In fact, by the time the Asia cup came round, people had forgotten the Bangladesh tournament completely. Except statisticians and sponsors, the tournament hardly benefitted anyone in the cricket fraternity across the world. I have consciously left out cricket administrators from the beneficiaries list for they stand to lose the most in the long run. With the fate of the one-day fifty over contest already in the balance in the face of mounting challenge from T-20 and spectacles like the IPL, the very least cricket administrators can do is to ensure they don?t hasten the demise of the novel 1970s innovation.

Among other factors, what explains the success of the T-20 world cup in South Africa or the IPL are their novelty or shock value. If there are two IPL?s a year and many more useless T-20 tournaments across the world, T-20 will soon have outlived its mass appeal. In fact, till not very long ago did we have packed houses in India for every one-day international played. I remember a packed Eden Gardens for a Sri Lanka versus Pakistan encounter, the final of the independence cup played in 40 degree centigrade heat in May 1997. For a similar game today, we won?t have more than 15,000 people queuing up for tickets. They have the IPL Kolkata Knight Riders matches to go to and just as multiplexes have hurt individual cinema theaters, so have T-20/IPL the fortunes of one-day internationals.

Does this then mean that one-day internationals will soon become a relic of the past? Have they then outlived their usefulness? Absolutely not. What the one-day game needs is injection of new thought; new ideas that will help transform its fortunes. Tournaments like the Asia Cup on the other hand will certainly contribute to its demise. That the next 50 over world cup is in the sub-continent in 2011 will help for it is the sub-continent that now boasts of an ever growing cricket mad middle class with increased spending power. Just as India?s victory in the T-20 world cup in South Africa helped launch the IPL, another such triumph on home soil can do wonders to the fortunes of one-day fifty over contests. And for India to have a realistic chance of making a strong pitch for the title, useless one-day tournaments need to be given a miss. These are competitions that leave teams with player injuries to contend with, forcing disgruntled captains to complain and provoke controversy.

(The writer teaches at La Trobe University)