Chief Executive Officer of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Sanjog Gupta, says the sport must provide a stronger backdrop for bilaterals in order to “sustain” the longer formats of the game.
"The era of randomly scheduled bilateral series has to come to an end, because countries will not be able to sustain cricket without context, culture, competition, and competitiveness, which require significant investment of resources, both financial and non-financial," Gupta told the Press Trust of India.
"It's important to stay focused on the four levers which drive attention and affiliation - context, culture, competition and competitiveness - and ODIs can continue not just to survive, but thrive,” Gupta, who was appointed to the position of CEO last July, continued.
“There is a place for the format in the product portfolio, which is inextricably linked to men's and women's World Cups. We need to look at what we want the format to stand for and how we want it to evolve, including the expanse of participation."
Sanjog Gupta (ICC/Getty Images)