Dravid backs Sachin on new ODI format

Dravid backs Sachin on new ODI format

Test teammate Rahul Dravid has backed Sachin Tendulkar's suggestion to revamp the ODIs by splitting the format into four innings of 25 overs each.

 

 

"It is an interesting suggestion. I don't know why the ICC has rejected it (Tendulkar's suggestion via a letter to ICC), but it's a good idea that Sachin has given and is worth experimenting," said India's batting mainstay on the England tour, on the sidelines of a promotional event for 'Gillette' in Mumbai, Wednesday night.

"It has been tried out in Australia (in domestic cricket) and the plus and minus points should be looked into," he added.

Tendulkar had written a letter to the ICC to change the format of the ODIs from two innings of 50 overs to four of 25 overs, like a Test match, but the world council's chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, had rejected it.

"There is no need to change the format," Lorgat told reporters in Colombo on Wednesday.

"We did receive a written proposal from Sachin, but that was a long time back. I had spoken to him many times about it, the last one as recent as during the World Cup in April.

"The success of the tournament showed that the 50-over format was in sound health and there was no need for dramatic changes," Lorgat added.

"The executive board meeting after the World Cup decided that the present format was doing well. That has not changed," Lorgat stressed.

Tendulkar had argued that four innings of 25 overs would be a fair way to balance the advantage gained by the team which won the toss in conditions such as bad weather and sub-quality pitches, which historically had proven that a match can virtually be decided by the toss of a coin.

Dravid also backed the Board for deciding to put pressure on the ICC for revising the controversial Umpire Decision Review System, of which he got the rough end of the stick in the Test and ODI rubbers in England.

"It's not set in stone. Anything connected with DRS is a work in progress. There are new challenges and questions about it. It's up to the member Boards (of the ICC) to ask whether things are better with it in place," said the 39-year-old Dravid.

Dravid, who was the lone batsman to show consistently superb form in difficult conditions against a top-class England pace attack in the four-match Test rubber that India lost 0-4, was also controversially given out through the 'Hot Spot' image system on at least three occasions, leading to big debates over DRS.