You'd have to say these days that cricket series of one-day internationals represent 'dead rubber.' Of course, Test cricket is not considered part of this comparison and retains its place in the annals of the game. So, driving public demand are tournaments and leagues instead.
Maybe that's the future of cricket. And why not if TRPs , read - accurate readings of the television audience at a given moment, demand a peek into that conscience?
'Public interest' back 1912
So, public interest may be causing the most popular form of cricket, unarguably between ODI and Twenty20, to veer away to a many splendoured form, with many teams involved at the same time. However, history will peculiarly reveal that it was public interest that caused the demise of the first attempt of a tournament, back in 1912 when England, Australia and South Africa played each other in Tests.
Cricket authorities decided that henceforth they would play more series, but perhaps fine tuning that to say it'd be bilateral series, to balance it out in the end - the logic being that once a series concluded, with the obvious assumption that the host team would have had some home advantage, a return series as soon as feasible in the cricket calendar, where the visitors would now become the hosts, would even it out for both the teams.
Well, coming back to the public interest failure of cricket's first tournament that was a failure in 1912, England, Australia and South Africa played each other. The failure of the tournament did not seem surprising because only 12 years prior, the Olympic Committee felt cricket's inclusion in the 1900 Olympics was as a failure and cancelled the sport from the august Games? Or maybe they weren't impressed that Great Britain beat only France by 158 - akin to the joke in the commentary box when Botham analysed all the fast bowlers' highest batting scores and asked Michael Holding if his "58 was against Iceland in the World Cup Qualifiers!"
Public Interest Again Post 2000 CE
Funnily it is 'public interest' that is initiating a shyly unstated preference for a tournament (the World Cup, Champions Trophy, tri-series) or a league (IPL). Simply, the pundits will analyze if the TV audience is that much more for a tournament vis a vis a regular of one-day internationals and presume that they can have a better revenue sharing model for all. So, will we soon see a day that series (one-day internationals) will rarely take place? Where will be the time in the calendar to accommodate them, even if they're relegated to practice matches where youngsters can be groomed?
Test Cricket Still Genuine for the Cricketers
Test cricket will stay clear of this path-breaking change. A test series was tried out over a decade go, although at different national venues, but was not considered a great success. Moreover, the opinions of all top cricketers has consistently been that Test cricket is real cricket, so it will stay not out of sheer tradition but out of a genuine need of the practitioners.
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