Bringing some innovations in Sachin's Split formula for One Day Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar, in a recent interview had suggested to split the 50 overs one day cricket into two innings of 25 overs each to make it more attractive. 50 overs match had been the most charmed form of the game until IPL happened. Therefore, to make the game more attractive vis-à-vis T20 game, he lend his voice which now have become a hot topic.

Initially, there were not many supporters, but, when a man of his calibre speaks, everyone takes a notice. With the popularity of T20 matches, and, the popularity bar rising each day, it becomes necessary to bring in some innovations to make One day cricket more charming and save the game. One such formula is to split the game into two innings of 25 overs each as suggested by Sachin. Under this format, each team will play for 25 overs each and then, again, play for another 25 overs each. According to Sachin, 50-overs cricket is becoming too formulaic because results of "close to 75% of matches" could be predicted after the toss. But two innings of 25 overs would create new strategies and drastically reduce the influence of winning the toss in favorable conditions, especially during Day/Night matches.

The success of IPL has reduced the interest in One Day cricket to a certain extent. This has forced the England and Wales Cricket Board to scrap the Friends Provident trophy, the only 50-over domestic cricket tournament, in favor of an expanded Twenty20 competition along with a 40-over format. Many players have supported Sachin’s idea. But, there are some issues that need to be considered before implementing this format.

According to ICC cricket manager Dave Richardson, splitting the innings could take away scoring opportunities for the batsmen. He added: "I don't necessarily like the idea of playing two matches of 25 overs each with the openers batting again. The charm of one-day cricket is seeing someone batting at four and scoring a good hundred.”

If we compare the statistics of a T20 matches, we should find that the number of centuries are very limited. When we divide the 50 overs in two innings of 25 overs each, there would be many occasions when the middle order batsmen would not get a chance to bat. In contrast, an opener would always get to bat twice. This will result in very few centuries by a player.

In this scenario, the best thing to do is to make some changes I Sachin’s split formula.
Unlike, having two separate inning of 25 overs each, what ICC can do is to make the second inning 0f 25 overs a continuation of the first inning of 25 overs. Let me illustrate this with an example:
Say Team A decided to bat and scores 125 runs for 4 wickets in their allotted 25 overs. Team B bats and scores 115 for 5 wickets in their 25 overs. Now, when Team A comes to bat again, they will simply resume their previous paused game. They will not restart all from the base, but will continue from where they left, i.e., they will start from 125 for 4 wickets. The batsmen out in the first innings cannot bat again. Same would be for Team B. In this way, one can see more runs and more partnerships from the batsmen.

Unlike, in Sachin’s split formula where hitting a century becomes a very difficult task, in this newly twisted formula, one can continue to see their favorite batsmen feeding on good bowls and hitting centuries occasionally.