"Worst format to play...": Moeen Ali blasts rule changes in ODI cricket, laments batter-friendly nature

London [UK], March 7 (ANI): Former England cricketer Moeen Ali opined that rule changes in the ODI format have made it the "worst format to play", saying that the 50-over-game has "completely died outside of ICC Cricket World Cup and the Champions Trophy" due to batting-friendly rules of powerplay and two-ball rule.
Moeen was speaking to Talksport Cricket, as quoted by Wisden. Notably, England has not had the best time in ODIs recently, having massively fumbled on their ICC Cricket World Cup title defence in India back in 2023 with just three wins in nine matches. While they did huff and puff their way to the Champions Trophy somehow, they finished their campaign recently without any win in three matches.
Speaking on Talksport Cricket, Moeen said, "The format has almost completely died out, apart from World Cups and Champions Trophy. It is the worst format to play and I think there are many reasons for that."
Moeen said that the rule to have one extra fielder inside the circle (a total of four fielders outside the 30-yard-circle, reduction from five earlier, introduced in 2012) has been "horrendous" as it is not easy to build pressure on batters because of that.
"I think the rules are terrible. To have that extra fielder in after the first powerplay, I think it is a horrendous rule for taking wickets, building any sort of pressure. Guys are averaging 60, 70 in ODI cricket now because of that. When you're bowling at somebody and you put a little bit of pressure, he just reverse-sweeps and it is not even a single, it is a four. It is just there's always that option available for the batters [to score]," said Moeen.
Moeen also said that the usage of two balls from both ends in ODI cricket, a rule also introduced in early 2010s, has eliminated the reverse swing from the game, handing batters an advantage.
"On top of all this, you have two new balls, you lose the reverse swing, you lose the art of trying to hit a softer ball. Everything is always in the middle and crisp and it is flying off your bat and stuff. I think for those reasons, the cricket's just died. 50-over cricket has died," Moeen continued.'
The former all-rounder also said that the franchise cricket worldwide is also "eating up" ODIs.
"The problem is the money that's out there and the money that's being thrown out there. It's so much that people just cannot turn it down. It is very difficult. There are guys who are probably going to retire in the next couple of years from international cricket earlier to play franchise cricket," Moeen added.
Moeen, a World Cup 2019 winner with England, represented England in 138 ODIs, scoring 2,355 runs at an average of over 24 with three centuries and six fifties and picking up 111 wickets. He will be playing Indian Premier League (IPL) this season with defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). (ANI)