Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha has warned that more cricketers could follow Ben Stokes ' lead and retire from ODI cricket.
It has become increasingly difficult for players to feature in all three formats for their country, while the rise of T20 franchise leagues has made the schedule even busier. After announcing his retirement from the format, Stokes labelled the current schedule "unsustainable".
"I can't give my team-mates 100 per cent of myself in this format any more," Stokes said. "Three formats are just unsustainable for me now.
"Not only do I feel that my body is letting me down because of the schedule and what is expected of us, but I also feel that I am taking the place of another player who can give Jos and the rest of the team their all."
And Ojha, who played 18 ODIs for India between 2008 and 2012, is concerned about the future of the format. Taking to social media, he wrote: "We were worried about TEST cricket’s future but the future of ODI looks uncertain!
"In future we may see many cricketers preferring to move away from this format. #SomethingToThinkAbout" Ojha's comments come after fellow India spinner Ravi Ashwin warned that the format was struggling to find relevance.
In an appearance on the 'Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club' podcast , Ashwin said: "The greatest beauty of one-day cricket is - sorry, was - the ebbs and flows of the game. People used to bide their time and take the game deep.
"The one-day format used to be a format where bowlers had a say. Even me, as a cricket badger and a cricket nut, I switch off the TV after a point and that’s frankly very scary for the format of the game.
"When those ebbs and flows go missing, it's not cricket anymore. It's just an extended form of T20. It's a question of relevance and I think ODI cricket needs to find its relevance. It needs to find its spot."
