Test Match vs ODI: Difference and Comparison

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.

Key Takeaways

1. Test matches are the longest form of cricket and are played over five days, whereas ODI is a shorter format played over a single day with 50 overs for each team.
2. Test matches offer more time for teams to strategize, change tactics, and make comebacks than ODIs, which require more aggressive and fast-paced gameplay.
3. The rules for Test matches are more traditional and strict than ODIs, which allow for various new rules and technologies such as powerplays, field restrictions, and review systems.

Test Match vs ODI

A Test match is the longest format of cricket played over a period of five days, with each team playing two innings. An ODI is a limited-overs format of cricket, played over a single day with each team playing one inning. The team that scores the most runs in one inning wins the match.

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

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

References 

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/135048594358078
2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8454.00187

Last Updated : 18 July, 2023