Sanjay Manjrekar’s line that ODI batting is “easy” sounds spicy, but it leans on an outdated picture of 50-over cricket. Modern ODIs are not a diluted Test; they’re a format with built-in pressures where batting success depends on repeated recalibration rather than one steady method. Virat Kohli and Sanjay Manjrekar. (PTI/FILE) Manjrekar’s core-point is that top-order batters find ODIs the most comfortable format because conditions and incentives favour run-making. That framing skips what ODIs uniquely demand: three different innings modes, ball-behaviour shifts, and scoreboard pressure that punishes even the smallest of misreads. ODIs force more phase adjustments than any other format In an uninterrupted ODI innings, fielding restrictions are split into three blocks: overs 1-10 (maximum 2 fielders outside the circle), overs 11-40 (maximum four), and overs 41-50 (maximum five). That hard-wires gear changes into the innings. The powerplay rewards boundary access, but the cost of an early wicket is huge because it changes how safely you can cash in later. The middle 30 overs are the ODI control room: captains protect boundaries with pre-planned …