Shorter Format Key For Cricket's Global Growth & Olympic Inclusion: Ravichandran Ashwin

Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin said that T20 cricket is here to stay, asserting that its shorter format makes it better suited for global expansion and inclusion in the Olympics.
Ashwin, who is the captain and mentor of Dublin Guardians in the European T20 Premier League (ETPL), believes the T20 format will attract a larger pool of players and benefit leagues worldwide, while expressing uncertainty over the long-term future of ODI cricket.

'T20 is here to stay'

Speaking at the media interaction for the ETPL 2026 Player Draft, Ashwin said, "If the game has to become global and it has to become an Olympic sport, the shorter the game, the more viable it is, and that's how it's going to become much more bigger and you will see a better sample size of players, which is also very critical for several of these leagues which run through. T20 as a sport is here to stay. I'm not too sure about ODI cricket."
Ashwin stressed that adaptability is the key to success in cricket, saying players must keep improving and adjust to different conditions. He cited the recent India vs Ireland T20I series, where the Men in Blue suffered a historic 2-0 series loss to the Irish, as an example of how playing conditions can significantly influence the game and challenge conventional T20 strategies.
"I think cricket as a whole needs to be learned in a way that you get better every single day. You should be able to adapt. The name of the game is adaptation, which is why what happened recently between India and Ireland in that T20 series is a classic example of how conditions can eliminate a lot of aspects of the game that have been developed as a root cause of T20 as a sport," he said.
(With inputs from ANI)