Ongoing India-Australia series could be the last 5-ODI affair, says James Sutherland

Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: The Virat Kohli-led Team India and Steve Smith's Australia are currently engaged in a five-match ODI series that began with the first match that was played in Chennai on Sunday.

Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland has said that the on-going bilateral series between the two countries can be the last one comprising of five matches.

"I don’t think you’ll see any country playing more than three one-day matches in a series in the future," Sutherland said according to a cricket.com.au report.

"They might intersperse them with some Twenty20 matches as well, but I don’t think you’ll see many five-match one-day series … if the plans at ICC level unfold for a Test championship and a one-day league," he added.

Talking about the proposed introduction of 13-team ODI league, Sutherland added that the bilateral ties won’t consist of more than three matches in coming future.

"The contemplation around one-day cricket in the future is that each country hosts six one-day matches and plays six away matches as part of that league, so that’s likely going to be the limits of it."

Moreover, the CA Chief Executive said that the Test World Championship is something that is required at the moment.

"If you think about the current series, we have just completed in Bangladesh, that had real context for the two countries involved but that context would be even more significant and highly elevated if there were points at stake as part of a Test championship," he said.

"What amplifies through that is third-party interest, so other countries, by extension, would have an interest in that series because it had a bearing on where others fitted on the ladder. “I think that’s a real positive because there are consequences that come with winning and losing that are far greater than just the bilateral series result as it stands," Sutherland said.