When R Ashwin recently referred to ODI cricket as “redundant” on one of his YouTube streams, it wasn’t merely a throwaway line. For years, the 50-over format was the game’s middle ground: longer than T20s and more expressive than Tests. It was also cricket’s commercial engine throughout the 1990s and 2000s, often drawing eyeballs and revenue as Test cricket began to show signs of decline. But ahead of a year which will see the T20 World Cup and the IPL played back-to-back, with T20 cricket dominating the cricket calendar for four consecutive months, concerns around how the ODI format may survive in modern cricket have resurfaced. Ashwin has not been alone in raising those concerns. While speaking at an Idea Exchange hosted by The Indian Express last year, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said that batsmanship against spin had declined as the ODI format declined. “The rhythm and tempo of one-day batting is not like it used to be because of how much T20 cricket is being played. In the 50-over game now, teams are …