India, Oct. 18 -- Sunday is a big day for one-day international (ODI) cricket for India. At Indore, in a crunch clash, Indian women play against England in the ongoing ODI world cup. In Australia, the Indian men's team make a return to ODI cricket after a while, kicking off a mouth-watering series against Australia. Beyond that, the similarities dissipate.

What stands out is the contrast in the evolution and relevance of the ODI format to men's and women's cricket. On the women's side, ODI remains the gold standard by which women's cricket is measured, and this is a golden period for women ODI records. On the men's side, the ODI format is fighting for survival and its golden period for records is well in the past, and may never even retu...