R Ashwin Defends the 11:30 a.m. Start Time for One-Day International Matches at the World Cup

R Ashwin, a senior spinner for India, believes that one-day international (ODI) World Cup matches that will be played in India later this year should start earlier in the day to mitigate the impact of the dew factor.

Since the beginning of time, dew has been a factor in matches played on the subcontinent, giving an unfair advantage to the teams chasing. If there is a possibility of dew, the captain who wins the toss will almost certainly choose to field his team.

“Regarding the World Cup, my recommendation, or more accurately, my viewpoint, is that we have a look at the different arenas and times in which we will be competing.

During the World Cup, there is no reason why games shouldn’t begin at 11.30 in the morning.” According to what R Ashwin said on his channel on YouTube,

Day-night one-day international matches start at 1:30 p.m. local time in India and go far into the evening hours.

The off-spinner, who is 36 years old, believes that because of the dew, it is difficult to tell which teams are of higher quality than others.

To illustrate his thesis, he used the first One-Day International match that was played between India and Sri Lanka.

India had scored 373 runs while batting first, whereas Sri Lanka had only managed 306 runs while batting eighth.

However, R Ashwin was of the opinion that the victory margin did not accurately reflect the extent to which the Indian team dominated the game.

“India produced a score that was significantly higher than expected despite batting on a sluggish pitch. In the end, though, they were forced to engage in a bloody battle “he said.

If you happen to lose the toss, the dew will help close the gap in ability between the two teams. Despite the fact that dew plays such a significant part in determining the results of games played in India, the scheduling of matches is mostly altered to accommodate television audience in the Indian subcontinent.

“People will bring up television viewers and broadcasters, and argue that people won’t hook on and watch at that time,” but “would they not latch on to World Cup matches?” “People will bring up television viewers and broadcasters,”

According to R Ashwin, “the most recent Twenty20 World Cup was also hosted in winter, prioritising the summer” for Australia’s home bilateral season.

“It wasn’t the best possible situation; twenty20 is a fast-paced game; how can you possibly play it when it’s cold outside? Even though some may argue that this is not the situation in Australia, we must nonetheless make the World Cup our first priority.”

In India, where the 50-over World Cup is going to be contested in October and November, dew will be a typical occurrence, and its impact will become even more significant as the event progresses.

“The International Cricket Council is well aware that there will be dew; therefore, let’s move the game up, and if we start at 11.30 in the morning, the dew element won’t come into the game, and why not?”

Will not every cricket fan make the World Cup their first priority and tune in to the matches at 11.30?” In addition, Ashwin mentioned that teams are ready for the possibility of dew before the World Cup.

“Recently, the ECB issued a call for applications for the position of analyst, and one of the significant questions that they posed was, “How significant of a factor is dew in Indian conditions in white-ball cricket?” I learned this information from other analysts that I know, and it was one of the important questions that they asked.

‘ “They’re looking to bring in the best analytical tools possible ahead of the 2023 World Cup, and they’ve asked all the pertinent questions, so you can see how crucial everyone in world cricket thinks the dew factor is in Indian conditions,” he said.'”They’re looking to bring in the best analytical tools possible ahead of the 2023 World Cup.”