Former Indian player Ajay Jadeja has echoed former India head coach Ravi Shastri, saying that there was no harm in reducing the ODI format from 50 overs to 40 to make it more interesting as well. During an interaction with India against West Indies official broadcaster FanCode, Jadeja said how digital rights played an important role as T20 get an edge over ODIs also.

Jadeja said: “There was a time when ODI cricket had arrived and then lesser Test matches were being played because that is, again, more productive for the players, broadcasters and for the association. Broadcasters play a key role. If you notice, whichever gets the higher media rights that gets more popularity. ODI was expensive at one point of time.”

READ HERE: India will struggle if Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma don’t score, says Mohammad Hafeez

He added: “Then T20 came. Now their rights have increased and hence ODIs are being played less. But Test will forever remain. In fact, India are playing more Test match(es) now than they played 20-30 years back. But ODI… 7 ghante kiske paas he agar saare teen ghante me kaam chalta he?”

However, ever since Ravi Shastri has backed ex-Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi’s talk of reducing the overs to 50 overs, the idea has made headlines on the internet. However, Ravi Shastri, however, feels that if ODIs can be reduced to 50 overs from 60 overs, they can further be shortened to 40 overs as well.

READ HERE: Gary Kirsten all set to work with Hardik Pandya

“There is no harm in shortening the span of the game. When one-day cricket started, it was of 60 overs. When we won the World Cup in 1983, it was of 60 overs. After that, people thought that 60 overs were a bit too long. People found that span of overs between 20 to 40 hard to digest. So they reduced it from 60 to 50. So years have gone by now since that decision so why not reduce it from 50 to 40 now. Because you got to be forward-thinking and evolve. It stayed for 50 for too long,” Ajay Jadeja said on Fan Code.