Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting admitted that ODI cricket will be played less amid the T20 boom. Ponting said he fears for the future of 50-over version with more franchise cricket ruling the cricket calendar.

In the last decade, T20 leagues across the globe have hogged all the limelight and the bilateral ODI series have become sporadic.

“As the months go by and the years go by and more and more T20 cricket is being played and more franchises and franchise tournaments are starting around the world, it’s more and more likely that 50-over cricket is probably going to be played less,” Ponting was quoted as saying by PTI. “It’s inevitable, which I’m not a huge fan of, to be honest.

“I love playing that format of the game, but something’s got to give somewhere. Test cricket is still going to remain strong as long as India, Australia, England and probably South Africa want Test cricket to remain strong. It will. So something’s got to give. And the obvious one is 50-over cricket,” he said.

Ponting also credited World Championship of legends for helping extend players’ careers.

“The players are the ones that are benefiting most from these tournaments all over the world at the moment,” he said. “A tournament like WCL also gives a lot of players at the back-end of their careers to earn a living.

“… it’s great for the guys that are either still playing like Davey (David Warner), still playing at the highest level, but sort of coming towards the back end of their careers to have something like the Legends, that they can go back and play at the end.

The 50-overs World Cup still holds a lot of significance but the format is definitely struggling to survive amid the rise of T20 leagues.