Brian Lara, the legendary former West Indian cricketer, is quite concerned with the speedy manner in which T20 cricket is overshadowing test cricket and he has urged the ICC to take steps in order to maintain the relevance of test cricket.
Brain Lara is currently in India as he is doing commentary in the IPL matches and recently, he has given an interview in which he says that he believes the ICC will take steps such as the test championship which they have started in order to keep test cricket relevant. According to him, the ICC should also ensure that the franchise cricket takes over but in a structured manner rather than the free fall which is happening as of now.
When Brian Lara is asked whether cricket is going football way where the franchise tournaments are taking precedence over international tournaments, he agrees that cricket is going the football way but he also says that there is a difference. He says that if we talk about football, there are some big tournaments such as European cups, World Cup, South American cups, etc. which enable clubs to have footballers for 11 months in a year and it is working well for football. It is also taking the burden of each country as they can earn by having football matches. However, he adds that in cricket, the scenario is completely different as the wealth is being accumulated among three big countries (India, Australia and England) only.
Brian Lara also talks about the tough times the West Indian cricket is going through, he says that they just can’t survive on the gate receipts because of which they are very thankful when India visits to play cricket as it gives them lot of TV rights money. He adds that nowadays the international teams of the cricket playing nations don’t have their best players because their best players are earning by playing the franchise cricket somewhere else.
Recently, South Africa sent a less experienced team to New Zealand for playing test series as the best players of the Proteas were taking part in the SA20.
Brian Lara also praises the BCCI for coming up with incentive program for encouraging players to play test cricket but he also talks about pulling the crowds. He says that the BCCI is able to pay extra because they have money but it is very difficult to get sponsors for test matches as there is no crowd in stadium.
Brian Lara feels that they have failed in educating people about batting for a session and not losing a wicket which is why T20 is taking over.
What do you think of Brian Lara’s opinion? Do let us know your views in this regard.
