Cricket has been one of the most popular sports all around the world. The sport is competitive, interesting, and involves the interaction of the audience as well. A game of cricket can be played in several different forms. Three of the most prominent ways of playing the game of cricket are known as a Twenty20 match, ODI match, and test cricket match.
Test Match vs ODI
The main difference between a test match and an ODI is that a match of test cricket can last anywhere from a minimum of 3 days to a maximum of 5 days. On the other hand, in the case of an ODI match, as the name suggests, one-day internationals, lasts for a single day only.
Test cricket matches are one of the longest cricket matches among all of the different forms of cricket. Moreover, test match cricket is considered as a form of cricket that determines the cricket quality of a team, thus test cricket is rated as the highest standard cricket among the rest of the cricket forms.
ODI is also known as LOI, which stands for limited-overs internationals. ODI matches are considered to be the highest standard form of cricket under the category of limited overs. The game of ODI follows the rule of field restrictions such as powerplay, bowling powerplay, and batting powerplay which has to be followed in every innings.
Comparison Table Between Test Match and ODI
| Parameters of comparison | Test match | ODI |
| The first match played in | The first test match was played in Melbourne in 1877. | The first test match was played in Melbourne in 1971. |
| Field restrictions | No field restrictions | Has field restrictions |
| League | Cricket world cup | World test championship |
| Color of the jersey | The color of the jersey of players during a test match is white. | The color of the jersey of players during an ODI match is multicolored, that is to say, the color depends upon the national jersey of the team. |
| Color of the ball | The color of the ball during a test match is red. | The color of the ball during an ODI match is white. |
What is a Test Match?
Test match cricket is a form of cricket that includes a total number of 4 innings and lasts for a maximum of 5 days. The total number of overs that are played during a single inning of cricket is not fixed, however, in most general cases, the overs played in a single inning of a test match cricket lasts from about 76 overs to 82 overs on average.
There are two major reasons why a test match lasts for so long is because firstly there is no specific or fixed number of overs to be played. That is to say, a team can bat for either as long as they want, or until all their players are bowled out. As a result, the bowlers also have to bowl until they bowl out all the batsmen and the batting team is declared to be all out.
The second reason is that there are a total number of 4 innings per test cricket match. A single inning lasts until all the players of the batting team get bowled out. After the first innings, the second team does batting. The same continues for another two innings. That is why a game of test cricket lasts for about 3 days to 5 days.
What is an ODI?
ODI stands for one-day internationals. In this form of cricket, both the teams have fixed number of overs, that is 50. That is to say, the total number of overs that can be played in ODI matches is a maximum of 50. In most general cases, an ODI match lasts for about a minimum of 8 hours to a maximum of 9 hours on average.
Initially, in the early years of cricket, the total number of overs played in ODI matches was equal to 60 overs per innings. With more changes and advancements with the rules of cricket, the number of overs in ODI changed to 40 overs, 45 overs, and 55 overs as well. However, finally, the rule of the total number of overs to be played in ODI matches was set to 50 overs per innings.
The most popular international league in cricket is played in the same format only, which is known as the Cricket world cup. It is a one-day international league where teams from all over the world such as England, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and more play against each other.
Main Differences Between a Test Match and ODI
- A single match of test cricket lasts for about a minimum of 3 days to a maximum of 5 days. On the other hand, a single match of cricket lasts for one day only.
- The game of test cricket has no field restrictions in it for players. On the contrary, the game of ODI has field restrictions in it for a fixed number of overs such as power play.
- A test match has no fixed number of overs in it. Whereas an ODI match has a fixed number of overs in it, which is equal to 50 overs per innings.
- A test match has two innings per team, which is equal to a total number of 4 innings per match. On the other hand, an ODI match has one inning per team, which is equal to a total of 2 innings per match.
- In case of a test match, the captain of the batting team can declare to close the innings even if the team is not all out. On the other hand, in the case of ODI, an inning is only declared off when either all the 50 overs are done or if the team gets all out.
Conclusion
Though the game of cricket has a fixed set of rules and regulations, depending upon what type of cricket match is being played, the rules and regulations of the game can vary, which also makes one form of cricket to be differentiated from the other. ODI and test cricket are two such forms of cricket that differ in many aspects and mainly in their rules. The major difference between the two is that test cricket has unlimited overs whereas ODI matches have limited overs.
References
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/135048594358078
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8454.00187