Cricket

Test Cricket or ODI: Which Is the Better Format?

The starting point of cricket is obscure. Most presumably, its name was derived from the Old English word “Cryce”, which signifies “stick”. And, in its impolite shape, looked like the thirteenth-century amusement known as club-ball. 

In the customary type of the diversion, a match is played between two teams, with 11 players on each team, in an innings arrange. One team gets the chance to bat while the other team bowls and fields. The gathering of the considerable number of overs that a team bats for is known to be an innings. The team that bats to start with tries to score however many keeps running as could reasonably be expected. After the two teams have played their innings, the team with the most runs is the victor.

Cricket majorly has two formats:

  • Tests

  • ODIs

Test cricket is “great” cricket, played in a white jersey, over a traverse of five days. It is the slowest and defensive type of the format and takes a cricketing brain to observe quietly. The genuine war of bat and ball is seen in just and just ‘Test Matches’. This is the place the genuine soul of a batter and bowler is really ‘TESTED’

ODI cricket is somewhat more on the energizing side. With 50 overs an innings, it is still long, yet not insofar as Tests. The best part about ODIs is the time limit which does not allow either side to rest. Whether it is the side which bats or the one which bowls.

How One-day Internationals (ODIs) rule the Cricketing world?                              

india in one day internationals

The first ODI match was played on 5th Januray 1971 between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The pressure usually lies on the bowling team trying to restrict the opposing team to a minimum runs. At the same time, equal pressure resides on the batsman who is at the crease trying to finish off the game with every passing delivery. That’s the suspense which makes the game unpredictable and that’s what the soul of any game is.

However, the ODIs are generally called the Batsmen’s den. The reason lies in scoring run rate within the limited overs. This is the reason why in ODIs cricketing spirit and the ‘war of bat and ball’ is somehow overshadowed with the ‘Number Game and Run Rate Calculations’. But it involves an equal amount of talent and wisdom to make the proper game play strategies. This is why it is the best way to test the captain’s talent.

Test Cricket Has No Substitute

The first Test match was played on 15th March 1877 between England and Australia at the MCG. In a test match, there are no excuses for anyone because both sides are left free to showcase their skill in the purest form. Above all what an asset a good bowler and a well-trained fielder can be for a team is shown only in this form of cricket.

The unsung heroes behind every ODI get their deserving share of glory here in test matches. On the batting side, it’s a test of resilience and talent. It’s a test of batting wrists and timing and it’s a test of how well you can perform when provided a chance. There are many examples of the same. Whether it is India Vs West Indies in 1971 or all time favorite face off with Pakistan in 2004 in Multan. In all these matches the sheer cricketing talent of all aspects, whether it’s Bowling, Batting or Fielding was displayed. It provided us the true cricketing meal to gratify our taste buds.

Viewership Comparison on Test Matches vs. ODI

According to Cricket viewership, which drove in a previous couple of years, particularly in the boundless over arrangement. Test and One-Day Internationals (ODIs)has ascended in so many years. It is relied upon to go up this year too.

The main format where viewership had stayed unaffected was the ODI format. Be that as it may, a year ago, the viewership bounced at whatever point, the men dressed in blue were in real life.

Test cricket, will dependably be the great type of diversion. Will dependably be the amusement that makes sitting tight for result additionally charming. Alone, the fourth innings pursue a test match can give you the chills of the fourth innings pursue that was developed for four days.

Just test cricket can give bowlers the need to snatch wickets as opposed to stemming run stream. Just test triumph can influence players to treasure their hard word on the field. Each rankles that occurred on that day’s field, gives that additional push to win the match and make the torment worth having. Just test cricket and nothing else makes the batsman play with good judgment instead of simply limit constraint.

But what about ODI?

As compared to Test cricket, ODI tournaments are preferred to be played in maximum numbers within a year. Its reason can be that audience mostly loves to see the ODIs, which always seems to provide a nail-biting experience to the viewers, whereas test-cricket lacks in providing that entertainment due to its quite long duration of 4-5 days. Getting bored to see the similar actions whether, in bowling or batting, the player can be seen themselves to be tired of playing continuously for such long durations.

As such this also affects the ticket sales factor. As in to witness the high-voltage international, every cricket lover desires to view it live by sitting among the audience in the stadium. Hence, the tickets of the test-match might not get to be sold as compared to 1/4th of the tickets sold in ODIs. Therefore, every country prefers to play more ODIs tournament within a year, rather than playing test cricket. One of its reasons can be this also that playing in the ODI format seems to be improving the rank of players, due to its instant results, as compared to test cricket, which takes much time.

Indian Cricket Team’s 2016-17 outing

The Indian cricket team had planned on playing 13 tests, 8 ODIs and 3 T20Is at home for the 2016-17 season as announced by the BCCI. If we look at these stats, the number of test matches played by the Indian team is comparatively higher than the number of ODIs. This gives an idea about which format of Cricket tests the players better and the teams opt to play more of Test Cricket, as it is called the “Real Test” when compared to the One Day Internationals, where the thrill lasts only for a day.

Read: What Interests The Cricket Enthusiasts More? Batting Or Bowling?

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Mohd Athar Khan

I am a writer and Google publisher