No end to India-Sri Lanka contests

Whether you like it or hate it, as cricket fans all you will get is more blue-vs-blue encounters. Yes, we are talking about the never ending India –Sri Lanka matches. The current overdose of these matches might have been raking in moolah for the cricketing boards of these two nations but they have most certainly put the future of One Day Internationals in grave peril. With every India-Sri Lanka match, the interest of the viewers seems to be diminishing exponentially and this is perhaps one of the most important reasons why the future of ODIs is looking bleak. But, sadly for the cricket lovers there are no signs of relief as yet as the organizers are in no mood to cut off these matches.

As I write this article, India are in Sri Lanka playing Asia Cup whose schedule has generated huge criticism from various former players and cricket fans. Now, with India and Sri Lanka having made to the finals early, the two still have to face each other twice, one of them being a dead rubber.

Let us take a look at some statistics which will make my point more clear.

• After the end of Asia Cup, India would have played 16 ODIs in 2010 out of which 7 would have been against their favourite opponents Sri Lanka.• In the last three and a half years, i.e. starting 1 Feb 2007, India have played 107 ODIs till date out of which 33 matches against Sri Lanka which means India have played 30 % of their total ODIs against this island nation during this period.

The careers of current lot of Indian players, clearly reflects the overdose fans have been subjected to. Some interesting stats are:• Dashing southpaw Gautam Gambhir has played 25 out of his 98 ODIs against Sri Lanka and has scored a mammoth 992 runs against them. Against no team other than Bangladesh has he amassed even 500 runs.• All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s 11 matches out of his career total of 28 have come against SL. His average against SL being an impressive 66.0 compared to his career average of 36.38.• Virat Kohli -15 out of 29 matches against SL. Against no other nation has he played even 5 ODIs.• Some other players are: Suresh Raina with 31 out of his 96 matches against Sri Lanka and Rohit Sharma with 16 out of his 48.

India vs Sri Lanka again !

I am not going into the stats for the Sri Lankans cricketers but they too have the same story.

Sadly after the end of Asia Cup, more India –Sri Lanka action awaits fans and viewers. India are due to play a 3 match test series in July when they tour the island nation. Other than that we also have a tri series in Sri Lanka with New Zealand being the third team where a minimum of 2 matches will be played between the men in light and dark Blues.

With the increasing number of irrelevant ODIs especially between India and Sri Lanka, various questions are raised on the 50 over format and its survival. Now it is up to the organizers, especially the BCCI, to answer these. At a time when discussions are made in other parts of the world to save the ODI format, scheduling extra bilateral and tri series out of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the sole purpose of generating revenue won’t do any good. With the number of viewers depleting increasingly, it is time for the ICC/BCCI to have a proper scheduling of all three formats for the sake of ODIs.

In the current scenario, the future doesn’t look so good. Perhaps, the World Cup next year will give a clear indication of times to come.

For now, sit back and enjoy India playing Sri Lanka in the Asia cup.